Kitagawa Utamaro (1753 – 1806)
Around 1793, Tsutaya released large-headed portraits of beautiful women by Utamaro. Tsutaya produced a series of large-headed portraits such as “Ten Portraits of Women” and “A Selection of Love in Uta”, and Utamaro achieved great success by depicting women of all ages and social classes (occupations) with delicate grace. This special exhibition will feature the ukiyo-e artist Kitagawa Utamaro’s Kyoka picture book “One Hundred Thousand Birds” and large-headed portraits of beautiful women, produced by publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo.
Tsutaya Juzaburo(1750 – 1797)
Ukiyo-e prints are created by the collaboration of an artist, a carver, and a printer. The one who produced the entire process, from planning to production and sales, was the “hanmoto,” which is equivalent to a publishing company today.
When Tsutaya Juzaburo was building a solid foundation as a publisher, he was skilled at identifying talent, and he introduced masterpieces by Japan’s proud ukiyo-e artists, Kitagawa Utamaro and Toshusai Sharaku, who were still unknown during the Tenmei and Kansei periods, known as the “golden age of ukiyo-e.”
Utamaro’s “Large-headed Beauty” was a technique characteristic of actor paintings, in which the upper half of the body was drawn in close-up, but Tsutayaju boldly applied this composition to portraits of beautiful women, which took the world by storm.
In his later years, Tsutae began publishing actor portraits in earnest, producing the mysterious artist Sharaku. Sharaku’s debut work, “Actor Large Head Portraits,” depicting bust-length portraits of kabuki actors, was published in one go as a whopping 28 images. This highlighted Tsutae’s skill as a producer.
Toshusai Sharaku (year of birth and death unknown)
Around 1794, Tsutaya released large-headed paintings of kabuki actors by Sharaku. Tsutaju published 28 paintings of actors by the then unknown Sharaku at once, and achieved great success as his debut publication. After that, he released over 140 ukiyo-e prints before suddenly disappearing.
This special exhibition will feature large-headed paintings of kabuki actors by ukiyo-e artist Toshusai Sharaku, produced by publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo.
Information
- Exhibition period
- November 22, 2024 (Fri) – May 6, 2025 (Tues)