Kitagawa Utamaro
A central figure in the literary and artistic world of Edo (now Tokyo), Kitagawa Utamaro was one of the best-known practitioners of ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world). In the Yoshiwara district, a government-licensed pleasure district on the outskirts of Edo, art and life were closely intertwined. The ukiyo-e print played an important part in promoting the pleasures of the district and the cult of the courtesan. Dissatisfied with the existing styles of depicting female beauty, Utamaro adopted the Katsukawa school’s large-head depictions of actors. His masterpieces, which he began producing in the 1790s, were half-length and bust-length portraits of beautiful women ( bijinga ).
Although the high-ranking courtesans were his favorite subjects, he also depicted common street prostitutes, tea house waitresses, geisha and housewives. Utamaro was known for his inventiveness in arranging his figures within the confines of the paper. His subject here is Ichikawa who was a known beauty and oiran, the highest rank of courtesan. The whiteness of her complexion, her simple features, and elaborate coiffure with comb and pins are set off by the powdered mica dusted onto the background of the sized sheet—glistening around her. As Ichikawa raises her arm to show off the bold wagon wheel pattern of her kimono, the curved opening of her under-robe displays her elongated neck including the tantalizing edges of the nape, which is considered an area of great beauty. Ichikawa’s two child attendants, Mitsumo and Tamamo, are not depicted but their names are inscribed at the upper right along with that of the courtesan and her house. The Matsuba-ya (Pine Needle House) was one of the most famous brothels in the Yoshiwara bordello.