Loading
Courtesan in Procession
UtamaroJapan, Edo period (1615-1868)
University of Michigan Museum of Art
Ann Arbor, United States
Details
- Title: Courtesan in Procession
- Creator: Kitagawa Utamaro
- Creator Lifespan: 1754/1806
- Creator Nationality: Japanese
- Creator Gender: Male
- Creator Death Place: Tokyo, Japan
- Creator Birth Place: Kawagoe, Japan
- Date Created: Japan, Edo period (1615-1868)
- Location: Tokyo, Japan
- Physical Dimensions: w26.8 x h85.7 mm (image)
- Label Copy: In the 1790s, Kitagawa Utamaro was without peer in Edo as a master of images of beautiful women. Santô Kyôden was a wildly successful writer of satirical fiction. Both were in the stable of the astute publisher Tsutaya Jûzaburô, and all three were infamous for whiling away their days in the teahouses of Yoshiwara, the licensed pleasure district. This painting is perhaps the most beautiful work of art to result from their collaboration. Utamaro evokes for us the haunting beauty of a young courtesan—probably Hanaôgi of the Ôgiya—on the day of her formal debut, as she promenades under the cherry blossoms on Yoshiwara’s main avenue, a child attendant in tow. The promenade was an annual ritual in which Yoshiwara’s denizens stepped out in their finest robes to display their beauty and fine taste. Utamaro has chosen a subtle palette of white, black, and shades of gray, which captures our attention all the more for being unexpected. The only color comes from the dazzling brocade that frames the painting, a fragment of a kimono that is original to the work. The poems, in Santô Kyôden’s hand, may be loosely translated as: The gold of her ransom may be measured in the chrysanthemum dew from the Sweet Valley, but the celebratory cup of her debut is drawn from pure saké of the Sumida River. It may be that even Saigyô never saw such flowers as these— Yoshiwara in bloom.
- Type: Painting
- External Link: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1962-sl-1.104/1962_1.104AC.JPG?lasttype=boolean;lastview=thumbnail;resnum=1;sel9=ic_exact;size=20;sort=relevance;start=1;subview=detail;view=entry;rgn1=musart_an;select1=starts;q1=1962%2F1.104
- Medium: Ink, white pigment, and light color on paper
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
