Tuesday 1 February 2011

Kitagawa Utamaro - Less is More

Details from Kitagawa Utamaro's woodcuts at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham in December last year.
Utamaro specialized in figures, portraits of the beautiful and "shunga".
He was a master of subtle expression, draped and translucent fabrics and, of course, composition.
I hope he wouldn't mind me cropping them.
Images in the accompanying book often cover a double page spread with "explicit detail" usually confined to one page. I experimented with cropping to see how much is told in a tiny (non explicit) section.

 
I really like the kimono patterns, the angles of folds in the layered garments, the colours - indigo, gold, palest peach, and those wonderfully chiseled lines shown in the first and third clips here.
 
 Look him up and see his complete prints. 

1 comment:

rachel said...

I have this print - and had it for years, admiring the beautiful lines and wonderful patterned fabrics, before I spotted the naked behind!