Utamaro | Act IV (Yodanme), The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers
喜多川歌麿 Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)
忠臣藏四段目
Act IV (Yodanme), from the series of The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers
1801-02
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 39cm x 26cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate -e | 39cm x 26cm
早期版次；颜色保存非常好；品相极佳；背面边缘处有两处非常微小的胶带
Early impression; excellent color and condition; 2 tiny tapes verso.
歌麿的美人，是不朽的艺术形象。
《忠臣藏》是喜多川歌麿于1801年前后创作的一套纵版美人画系列。全套以著名的人形净琉璃和歌舞伎剧目《假名手本忠臣藏》为蓝本，加之歌麿一贯拿手的见立绘手法，描绘了彼时吉原一年中的各种习俗，故事感满满，表现力卓绝。
将丛丛浓绿的蒲苇插入竹筒，地上放置着一把刚采撷的野菊。江户时代的日本继承着来自中华的传统，家家户户在农历八月十五都会供奉上秋草与果品，向明月祈求丰收富足，家人安乐。身穿一袭优雅黑衣的姑娘倩影颀长，正捧着装饰有御酒口的两瓶月见酒款款而来。她腰带上娇嫩的桃粉色虽历经两百余年，却依然水润饱满，好似新摺，实为难得。画面右上方矩形画框内，《忠臣藏》四段目中经典的送花笼之段正如live图般上演。无论是露出半截的重瓣樱花树，还是颜世御前等三位人物的动作神态都纤毫毕现，在构图与精气神上同样不逊色于主体画面。江户时代的剧目仍在上演，画中的美人，亦青春永驻。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
喜多川歌麿 Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)
忠臣藏四段目
Act IV (Yodanme), from the series of The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers
1801-02
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 39cm x 26cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate -e | 39cm x 26cm
早期版次；颜色保存非常好；品相极佳；背面边缘处有两处非常微小的胶带
Early impression; excellent color and condition; 2 tiny tapes verso.
歌麿的美人，是不朽的艺术形象。
《忠臣藏》是喜多川歌麿于1801年前后创作的一套纵版美人画系列。全套以著名的人形净琉璃和歌舞伎剧目《假名手本忠臣藏》为蓝本，加之歌麿一贯拿手的见立绘手法，描绘了彼时吉原一年中的各种习俗，故事感满满，表现力卓绝。
将丛丛浓绿的蒲苇插入竹筒，地上放置着一把刚采撷的野菊。江户时代的日本继承着来自中华的传统，家家户户在农历八月十五都会供奉上秋草与果品，向明月祈求丰收富足，家人安乐。身穿一袭优雅黑衣的姑娘倩影颀长，正捧着装饰有御酒口的两瓶月见酒款款而来。她腰带上娇嫩的桃粉色虽历经两百余年，却依然水润饱满，好似新摺，实为难得。画面右上方矩形画框内，《忠臣藏》四段目中经典的送花笼之段正如live图般上演。无论是露出半截的重瓣樱花树，还是颜世御前等三位人物的动作神态都纤毫毕现，在构图与精气神上同样不逊色于主体画面。江户时代的剧目仍在上演，画中的美人，亦青春永驻。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
喜多川歌麿 Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)
忠臣藏四段目
Act IV (Yodanme), from the series of The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers
1801-02
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 39cm x 26cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate -e | 39cm x 26cm
早期版次；颜色保存非常好；品相极佳；背面边缘处有两处非常微小的胶带
Early impression; excellent color and condition; 2 tiny tapes verso.
歌麿的美人，是不朽的艺术形象。
《忠臣藏》是喜多川歌麿于1801年前后创作的一套纵版美人画系列。全套以著名的人形净琉璃和歌舞伎剧目《假名手本忠臣藏》为蓝本，加之歌麿一贯拿手的见立绘手法，描绘了彼时吉原一年中的各种习俗，故事感满满，表现力卓绝。
将丛丛浓绿的蒲苇插入竹筒，地上放置着一把刚采撷的野菊。江户时代的日本继承着来自中华的传统，家家户户在农历八月十五都会供奉上秋草与果品，向明月祈求丰收富足，家人安乐。身穿一袭优雅黑衣的姑娘倩影颀长，正捧着装饰有御酒口的两瓶月见酒款款而来。她腰带上娇嫩的桃粉色虽历经两百余年，却依然水润饱满，好似新摺，实为难得。画面右上方矩形画框内，《忠臣藏》四段目中经典的送花笼之段正如live图般上演。无论是露出半截的重瓣樱花树，还是颜世御前等三位人物的动作神态都纤毫毕现，在构图与精气神上同样不逊色于主体画面。江户时代的剧目仍在上演，画中的美人，亦青春永驻。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)
Is there a line more elegant, more evocative, more sensual than the subtle curve that magically evokes the face or figure of a beautiful woman as drawn by Kitagawa Utamaro?
She can be a concubine or a mother or anything in between, in an elaborate kimono or a casual yukata with a glimpse of exposed breast, yet in this master’s hands, her every emotion and mood is captured with a smooth simplicity never equaled.
In all of Ukiyoe, Utamaro was the undisputed master of the beautiful woman -- or bijin -- print, and his works in and of themselves constitute a golden age of the Japanese woodblock art. He was born in 1753, just as the form came into its own, and died in 1806.
He first produced actor prints in the style of Shunsho, but quickly adjusted his focus to beautiful women in the style of Kiyonaga. He mastered both face and full-figure portraits – always slender and graceful -- and showed a sly talent for erotic prints: his are often sexy without being overly explicate. He also produced dozens of books and was something of a lively character in the great Edo social whirl of those days, known around town for his personality, joie de vivre and charm as much as for his talent.
In all he worked with about 60 publishers. He could capture a woman’s complex emotions simply by the angle of her almond-shaped eyes or the ripe shape of her slightly parsed lips. So many of these women seem as if from a dream, and as if they are lost in their own dreams; they appear to be simultaneously of this world and from another one that we mere mortals cannot begin to imagine.
And whereas sometimes having small children in Ukiyoe brings down a design’s value, in the case of Utamaro, who produced many, many prints of mothers and children, the opposite seems to be true.
He established his own school. In due time, as Ukiyoe became more and more colorful and, perhaps, decadent, Utamaro fell from favor. Late in his life he was briefly imprisoned for a print depicting the Hideyoshi Shogun with courtesans.
But his reputation grew to spectacular heights as the West discovered Japanese woodblock prints in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Partial citation: Highly Important Japanese Prints, Illustrated Books and Drawings, from the HENRI VEVER Collection: Part 1 (Sotheby & Co.; 1974). Marks, Andreas, Japanese Woodblock Prints, Artists, Publishers and Masterworks: 1680-1900 (Tuttle; 2010).