 |
| Utamaro: Three Beauties of the Present Day - 1793 |
Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) is one of the most influential ukiyo-e artists, and one of the few who became famous beyond Japan. He is best known for his bijinga, pictures of beautiful girls, one of the major sub-genres of ukiyo-e.
Utamaro introduced a certain realism of the faces, which had so far been idealised and stereotyped. This print, "Three Beauties of the Present Day" [Tōji
San Bijin], from 1793, shows a triangular composition of three girls in the style of okubi-e (large head). Okubi-e had so far been yakusha-e, portraits of kabuki actors, but Utamaro applied it in bijinga.
The heads seem alike, but on a closer look, there are subtle differences which make them individual. In fact, the girls are the geisha Tomimoto Toyohina (top), and the two waitresses Takashima Hisa (left) and Naniwa Kita (right), who figure on many prints by Utamaro and others.
It has sometimes been claimed that this picture was the first (or one of the first) bijinga with girls who were not courtesans. That is not true - it was already started by Harunobu, who sometimes made bijinga with beauties from everyday life.
It has sometimes been claimed that this picture was the first (or one of the first) bijinga with girls who were not courtesans. That is not true - it was already started by Harunobu, who sometimes made bijinga with beauties from everyday life.