Kitagawa Utamaro (?–1806) was undoubtedly Japan’s greatest artist of bijinga (pictures of beautiful women) in the ukiyo-e genre, but like many working in ukiyo-e, it took some time for him to ...

Utamaro and the Spectacle of Beauty is not a beginner's book. Disavowing any intention to survey Utamaro's art as a whole, it consists for the most part of five chronologically and thematically ...

The early 1780s were a difficult time for the shogunate, Japan's feudal government. Though the country was at peace, one of the worst famines on record was wreaking havoc across the land. Making ...

People in Japan are getting their first look at a long-lost masterpiece by a 19th-century Japanese painter. The painting by the renowned artist Utamaro was missing for 66 years, but went back on show ...

The rediscovered "Young Woman Blowing a Glass Pipe (poppin)" portrait created by Kitagawa Utamaro is seen at the Tokyo National Museum in the capital's Taito Ward on May 12, 2025. (Mainichi/Sakiko ...

UTAMARO AND THE SPECTACLE OF BEAUTY by Julie Nelson Davis. London: Reaktion Books, 2008, 269 pp., 114 illustrations, 66 color plates. £35 (cloth) Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) is widely known as one of ...

Utamaro comes to Manila and—what do you know?—it has to be in a children’s museum. We did a double-take on learning such adult art as his found its way to such venue. Sample this art form in the ...

Seldom does a show subvert expectations as subtly and deftly as “Inventing Utamaro: A Japanese Masterpiece Rediscovered” at the Smithsonian’s Freer-Sackler. The somewhat ambiguous title seems to ...

Of all the abductions, this one is different.