Utamaro and the spectacle of beauty

Abstract

"One of the most influential artists working in the genre of ukiyo-e ('pictures of the floating world') in late-eighteenth-century Japan, Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) was widely appreciated for his prints of beautiful women. In images showing courtesans, geisha, housewives and others, Utamaro made the practice of distinguishing social types into a connoisseurial art. In 1804, at the height of his success, Utamaro, along with several colleagues, was manacled and put under house arrest for fifty days for making prints of the military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi enjoying the pleasures of the 'floating world'. The event put into stark relief the challenge that popular representation posed to political authority and, according to some sources, may have precipitated Utamaro's sudden decline." "Offering a new approach to issues of the status of the artist and the construction of identity, gender, sexuality and celebrity in the Edo period, Utamaro and the Spectacle of Beauty is a significant contribution to the field and a key work for readers interested in Japanese art and culture."--Jacket.

Contents

Introduction : Utamaro, Ukiyo-e and the city of prints -- Constructing the artist known as Utamaro -- 'Pictures of beauties' and other social physiognomies -- Behind the brocade and other Yoshiwara illusions -- Utamaro and the feminine spectacle -- Making history into the pageant of the floating world.