Utamaro | Hanahito of the Ogiya, Contest of Flowers of the Five Festivals
喜多川歌麿 Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)
五节花会世 扇屋内花人
Hanahito of the Ogiya, from the series Contest of Flowers of the Five Festivals
1790s
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 39cm x 26.3cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate -e | 39cm x 26.3cm
早期版次;颜色保存非常好;品相非常好
Fine impression, color and condition
五月浅夏胜春烟,每当五月五端午节前后,丛生于沼泽湿地的燕子花便会接连盛放硕大的紫色花朵,与剑状的青绿色叶片一同将河岸湖畔装点得无比绚烂。自然地,它们的倩影也常常出现在绘画与各类工艺品中,其间最为人熟知的,莫过于江户时代著名画家、工艺美术家尾形光琳创作的《八桥图》屏风与《燕子花图》屏风。
燕子花同样是日本花道中常用的一种花卉材料,以其勃勃生姿彰显着初夏将发的繁盛之美。富岳白帆图屏风前,扇屋内的花人姑娘身着绛紫色燕子花图锦衣,呈跪姿状,手捏一柄蕨手剪,正细细地将刚刚采收的燕子花一枝枝插于花器中,不时地调整着比例与位置,以求达到一种优雅的和谐与平衡。
本作是歌麿难得一见的单人美人全身像之一,且在背景中增添了一整面的屏风元素,在丰富画面的同时依旧延续着歌麿细腻简洁、注重留白的一贯审美,实为难得。
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Please contact us.
喜多川歌麿 Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)
五节花会世 扇屋内花人
Hanahito of the Ogiya, from the series Contest of Flowers of the Five Festivals
1790s
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 39cm x 26.3cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate -e | 39cm x 26.3cm
早期版次;颜色保存非常好;品相非常好
Fine impression, color and condition
五月浅夏胜春烟,每当五月五端午节前后,丛生于沼泽湿地的燕子花便会接连盛放硕大的紫色花朵,与剑状的青绿色叶片一同将河岸湖畔装点得无比绚烂。自然地,它们的倩影也常常出现在绘画与各类工艺品中,其间最为人熟知的,莫过于江户时代著名画家、工艺美术家尾形光琳创作的《八桥图》屏风与《燕子花图》屏风。
燕子花同样是日本花道中常用的一种花卉材料,以其勃勃生姿彰显着初夏将发的繁盛之美。富岳白帆图屏风前,扇屋内的花人姑娘身着绛紫色燕子花图锦衣,呈跪姿状,手捏一柄蕨手剪,正细细地将刚刚采收的燕子花一枝枝插于花器中,不时地调整着比例与位置,以求达到一种优雅的和谐与平衡。
本作是歌麿难得一见的单人美人全身像之一,且在背景中增添了一整面的屏风元素,在丰富画面的同时依旧延续着歌麿细腻简洁、注重留白的一贯审美,实为难得。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
喜多川歌麿 Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806)
五节花会世 扇屋内花人
Hanahito of the Ogiya, from the series Contest of Flowers of the Five Festivals
1790s
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 39cm x 26.3cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate -e | 39cm x 26.3cm
早期版次;颜色保存非常好;品相非常好
Fine impression, color and condition
五月浅夏胜春烟,每当五月五端午节前后,丛生于沼泽湿地的燕子花便会接连盛放硕大的紫色花朵,与剑状的青绿色叶片一同将河岸湖畔装点得无比绚烂。自然地,它们的倩影也常常出现在绘画与各类工艺品中,其间最为人熟知的,莫过于江户时代著名画家、工艺美术家尾形光琳创作的《八桥图》屏风与《燕子花图》屏风。
燕子花同样是日本花道中常用的一种花卉材料,以其勃勃生姿彰显着初夏将发的繁盛之美。富岳白帆图屏风前,扇屋内的花人姑娘身着绛紫色燕子花图锦衣,呈跪姿状,手捏一柄蕨手剪,正细细地将刚刚采收的燕子花一枝枝插于花器中,不时地调整着比例与位置,以求达到一种优雅的和谐与平衡。
本作是歌麿难得一见的单人美人全身像之一,且在背景中增添了一整面的屏风元素,在丰富画面的同时依旧延续着歌麿细腻简洁、注重留白的一贯审美,实为难得。
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).