Page 451 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

254 255
Kitagawa Utamaro (c. 1754-1806) Kitagawa Utamaro (c. 1754-1806)
Woman in Summer Attire The Fancy-Free Type, from
Ten Types of Female Physiognomy
c. 1795
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk c. 1792-1793
101.5 x 31.9 (40 x 1272) Color woodblock with mica
7
Tóyama Memorial Museum, Saitama 37.8 x 24.3 (i4 /sx gVz)
Tokyo National Museum
• Although best known to posterity Important Cultural Property
and in his own day as a print designer,
Utamaro was a skilled painter as well. Illustrated page 390
About twenty or so paintings confi-
450 • This refreshing design captures a
dently ascribed to the artist's hand
survive. In this painting on silk a young woman just after finishing
young woman peers intently into a her bath, still wringing a hand towel.
small hand mirror as she repairs her Her light cotton robe, decorated with
makeup. We have happened upon roundels of phoenixes, is wrapped
the subject in a private mode as she casually over her shoulder, revealing
is caught up with her own reflection. the outline of her breast. She has tied
her still-wet hair in a casual manner
The black ground of her robes is with an unbalanced array of combs
accented with white tic-tac-toe and and hairpins. The overall color scheme
more complex crisscross patterns. of light hues against a bright white
Against the conservative patterning mica background conveys a sensation
of the robes, a deep green obi sash of glowing beauty.
decorated with trailing clematis
motifs makes a strong impression. The print belongs to a series titled Ten
Still, the overall effect is understated, Types of Female Physiognomy, though
only five designs were produced. A
reflecting the fashion trends among
geisha of the artist's day. Looking subsequent series, Ten Categories of
closely, however, we can make out a Female Physiognomy, took up the
little exposed section of her robes' same theme but did not give specific
bright red underlining — a hint of titles to the personality types. This
latent eroticism. woman is described as the "fancy-free"
type, to borrow Timothy Clark's clever
In the foreground, resting on the translation, which captures the vari-
tatami mat, is a round fan decorated ous connotations of the term in the
with a design of purple morning glory Edo context of "fickle," even "promis-
blossoms, atop which is placed a cuous," but also a bit "showy."
small rectangular insect cage. These
objects function as a still life within a Kitagawa Utamaro, with the support
portrait to indicate the season: both of his publisher Tsutaya Jüzaburó
the fan and cricket cage are connected (1750-1797), was recognized as the
with summer. The flowers, literally premier portrayer of feminine beauty
following the
of Torii
retirement
"morning face," connote early morn- Kiyonaga. Like nearly every print artist
ing freshness, but also the idea of a
young woman whose face is beautiful of the time, Utamaro came under the
even without makeup. The sound of sway of Kiyonaga's tall svelte beauties
gentle, refined features, but he
with
crickets connotes the leisurely pace
of summer. JTC soon surpassed his predecessor in his
beauty prints. At the peak of his career,
in the 17905, Utamaro concerned him-
self almost exclusively with depic-
tions of beautiful women, especially
highly stylized portraits of courtesans
and geisha of the Yoshiwara licensed
quarters. JTC
254