Utamaro Kitagawa is a female beauty singer

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The brilliant artist Utamaro Kitagawa, who painted portraits of beauties, idealized women and skillfully conveyed their inner state. Having a huge impact on the visual arts, he aroused European interest in Japanese prints.

A few facts about the master

Kitagawa Utamaro, whose biography is incredibly dramatic, according to researchers, was born in 1753 in Edo (modern Tokyo) or Musashi province. The fact is that information about his life is extremely scarce. The real name of the genius is Nobuyoshi, and he takes a creative pseudonym in the 80s of the XVIII century.

In the city of Edo, a young man studies at the studio of a famous artist in the ukiyo-e technique, which reflects the life of ordinary people. A new direction in art, opposed to the official canons, is fully oriented to the tastes of the townspeople.

The first professional works of the recognized genius appear in 1775. He paints portraits of kabuki theater actors in disguise, and the young man's works attract the attention of the country's leading publisher, Ts. Juzaburo. There is a significant meeting between the artist and Qutai, who recognized the remarkable talent of the young man and became his patron for several years.

Fromillustrations for female portraits

However, time passes, and Utamaro Kitagawa, whose career is on the rise, abandons illustrations and focuses on creating half-length portraits of women, breaking the contract with the publisher. In search of inspiration, a talented Japanese goes to the notorious area where prostitutes and bandits live, and shows the female body with special grace, hinting at light eroticism.

The Japanese, who made more than two thousand engravings, gave immortality to the courtesans who posed for him, and during his lifetime, many masterpieces were taken out of the country.

Creator's Special Technique

The author, who became famous in the 18th century, used different printing technologies in his work: he mixed colored powders to achieve a finer shade. I used mica, which gives the effect of a silvery background, paid close attention to how the light falls. He noticed the brilliant surface of the water, the radiance of rose petals, the sparkling and enlivening sunbeams all around.

In an effort to show different characters and temperaments, he worked in the technique of polychrome printing, paying attention to even minor details and building compositions in a new way each time.

Singing hymn to feminine beauty

Due to the color saturation of engravings, a diverse range of moods of heroines is created: from sadness to joy, from serenity to excitement. The main singer of female beauty created the image of a charmer with a long neck, sensual lips, a soft oval face and dark eyebrows. Utamaro Kitagawa, who skillfully conveyedstate of mind, watched girls from different classes. The favorite motives of the author of the famous album "Yoshiwara Green Houses Yearbook" are the daily activities of women styling their hair, admiring themselves in the mirror, walking down the street or just thinking about their lives.

The viewer can't help feeling that the Japanese lived with these women, smelled them, saw how they touched their hair and skin. And this can be considered as the greatest gift of a brilliant creator, whose presence is felt in every engraving.

Custom writing

Utamaro Kitagawa, who enriched the color palette, introduced innovations in the technique of woodcuts (woodcuts). For a long time he was looking for his style of performance, and when he found it, he became the best artist in the country. Fascinated by the opposite sex, the genius drew attractive girls from the Edo period.

Subtle-feeling world, Utamaro Kitagawa, whose engravings are admired for their craftsmanship, painted women through a light mist, and this effect is achieved using mica ground into flour. The artist used a small amount of colors, which creates the feeling of not the real world, but a dream.

The Mystery of the "Mosquito Net"

So, in the work "Mosquito Net" Utamaro Kitagawa's bright talent was revealed. Striving for conciseness, the master shows two similar girls, one of which is hidden behind a curtain, and the other peers intently into a transparent veil. They froze in anticipation of something invisible, andthe viewer solves another mystery of the Japanese. No one knows who these women are: aristocrats or geishas, since both of them have a special dignity in the engravings of the creator of the portrait genre.

Kitagawa Utamaro: Paintings

One of his most famous works is a portrait of a girl, called "Beauty". The charming charmer, thinking about something, does not straighten the kimono that has fallen from her shoulder, being in her thoughts. Crouched on the ground, she rests on it with one hand, and with the other she holds a paper fan. A face whitened with special paints and hair gathered in a bun catches the eye. This is what the recognized beauties of that time looked like.

Kitagawa skillfully focuses on the girl's outfit, which seems dark and not very attractive. However, the viewer soon looks with interest at the hem with unusual embroidery and the green fabric, which stands out brightly against the gold background.

The engraving that killed a great artist

In 1804, after the engraving "Hideyoshi and the Five Concubines" was released, where the author depicted the ruling shogun in an inappropriate form, the wrath of the authorities fell upon the artist. For free satire, Utamaro is sent to prison, and he spends 50 days in a cell with his hands tied. Grieving disgrace, Kitagawa ends his career and dies two years later.

After his death, many works of the Japanese genius are abroad, and more than 380 of hisprints created in the ukiyo-e genre (pictures of the everyday world).

The attractiveness of the works of the Japanese master

The great genius of the Land of the Rising Sun, who became famous in Europe, had a noticeable impact on Western art. Having achieved fame as a national artist, Utamaro Kitagawa portrayed his heroines in a rather generalized way, but he brilliantly managed to convey the essence of the character of each woman and reflect their momentary emotions. The modern viewer looks at the engravings for hours, but still cannot find the answer to the question: "What is the amazing hypnotism of Japanese beauties?"