Biography for Kitagawa Utamaro

Employment

Utamaro was the first Japanese artist to become famous in the West. He was a master of the woodblock print and was hugely inspirational to the Impressionists who admired his unconcern with creating natural and traditional poses, often showing figures cut off by the margin of the print or half covered by a curtain. Utamaro is accredited with producing some 1900 designs for single sheet prints and is celebrated for his prints of women, particularly of the public and private lives of courtesans. He produced half-length portraits and also illustrated books. Utamaro was immensely popular in his lifetime, and his signature was forged. A number of prints bearing his name are, in fact, the work of rivals and pupils.