Utamaro

256 Pages·2012·70.636 MB·English

by  Edmond de Goncourt

UU ttaa MM aa rr oo
EEddmmoonndd ddee GGoonnccoouurrtt
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Text: after Edmond de Goncourt
Translated from the French by Michael & Lenita Locey
© Parkstone Press International, New York, USA
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ISBN: 978-1-78042-928-1
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After Edmond de Goncourt
UTAMARO
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Contents
Foreword
6-7
I. The Art of Utamaro
8-33
II. The Pictorial Works
34-171
III. The Books
172-251
Bibliography
252
Glossary
253
List of Illustrations
254-255
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6
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FOREWORD
In his Life of Utamaro, Edmond de Goncourt, verdict of de Goncourt: no artist was more
in exquisite language and with analytical skill, popular than Utamaro. His atelier was besieged
interpreted the meaning of the form of by editors giving orders, and in the country his
Japanese art which found its chief expression in works were eagerly sought after, while those of
the use of the wooden block for colour his famous contemporary, Toyokuni, were but
printing. To glance appreciatively at the work of little known. In the Barque of Utamaro, a
both artist and author is the motive of this famous surimono*, the title of which forms a
present sketch. The Ukiyo-e*print, despised pretty play upon words, maro being the
by the haughty Japanese aristocracy, became Japanese for “vessel,” the seal of supremacy is
the vehicle of art for the common people of set upon the artist. He was essentially the
Japan, and the names of the artists who aided painter of women, and though de Goncourt
in its development are familiarly quoted in sets forth his astonishing versatility, he yet
every studio, whilst the classic painters of Tosa entitles his work Utamaro, le Peintre des
and Kanoare comparatively rarely mentioned. Maisons vertes.
The consensus of opinion in Japan during
the lifetime of Utamaro agrees with the – Dora Amsden
Hanaogi of the Ogiya [kamuro:] Yoshino, Tatsuta(Ogiya uchi Hanaogi),
1793-1794.
Oban, nishiki-e, 36.4 x 24.7 cm.
Musée national des Arts asiatiques – Guimet, Paris.
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I. THE ART OF UTAMARO
T o leaf through albums of Japanese done from the heart.” The heart of Utamaro
prints is truly to experience a new shines forth in the quest for the beauty of
awakening, during which one is animals through this effusion with which he
struck in particular by the splendour of depicts the women of the Yoshiwara*: the
Utamaro. His sumptuous plates seize the love of beauty in an artist is not real unless
imagination through his love of women, he has the sensuality for it. Love and sex are
whom he wraps so voluptuously in grand at the foundation of aesthetic feelings and
Japanese fabrics, in folds, contours, cascades become the best way to exteriorise art which,
and colours so finely chosen that the heart in truth, never renders life better than by
grows faint looking at them, imagining what schematisation, by stylisation.
exquisite thrills they represented for the
artist. For women’s clothing reveals a nation’s Among the artists of the Japanese movement
concept of love, and this love itself is but a of the “floating world” (Ukiyo), Utamaro is one
form of lofty thought crystallised around a of the best known in Europe; he has remained
source of joy. Utamaro, the painter of the painter of the “green houses”, as he was
Japanese love, would moreover die from this called by Edmond de Goncourt. We associate
love; for one must not forget that love for the him at once with the colour prints (nishiki-e*)
Japanese is above all erotic. The shungas* of of his great willowy black-haired courtesans
this great artist illustrate how interested he dressed in precious fabrics, a virtuoso
was in this subject. His delectable images of performance by the printmaker.
women fill hundreds of books and albums
and are reminders, if any were needed, of In addition to romantic scenes set in nature,
the countless affinities between art and he dealt with themes such as famous lovers
eroticism. Thus Utamaro’s teacher, the together, portraits of courtesans or erotic
painter Toriyama Sekien, could say of the visions of the Yoshiwara*. But it is Utamaro’s
magnificent Picture Book: Selected Insects portrayals of women which are the most
(pp. 234, 236, 237): “Here are the first works striking by their sensual beauty, at once lively
Snow, Moon and Flowers from the Ogiya Tea House (Setsugekka Hanaogi),
Kansei period (1789-1801).
Oban, nishiki-e, 36.2 x 24.9 cm.
Musée national des Arts asiatiques – Guimet, Paris.
Woman Making up her Lips(Kuchibiru),c. 1795-1796.
Oban, nishiki-e, 36.9 x 25.4 cm.
Private Collection, Japan.
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and charming, so far removed from realism,
and imbued with a highly-refined psychological
sense. He offered a new ideal of femininity;
thin, aloof, and with reserved manners. He
has been criticised for having popularised the
fashion of the long silhouette in women and
giving these figures unrealistic proportions.
He was, to be sure, one of the prominent
representatives of this style, but his portraits
of women, with their distorted proportions,
remain works of an art which is marvellous
and eminently Japanese. In truth, the Japanese
value nobility in great beauty more highly
than observation and cleverness. Subtly, the
evocative approach brings beauty to full
flower, offers its thousand facets to the eye,
astonishes by a complexity of attitudes which
are more apparent than real and takes absurd
liberties with the truth, liberties which are
nonetheless full of meaning.
Little is known of the life of Utamaro.
Ichitaro Kitagawa, his original name, is said
to have been born in Edo around the middle
of the eighteenth century, probably in 1753,
certainly in Kawagoe in the province of
Musashi. It is a time-honoured tradition of
“Naniwaya Okita”, 1792-1793.
Hosoban, nishiki-e (double-sided (back view shown)),
33.2 x 15.2 cm.
Unknown Collection.
10