**Kitagawa Utamaro**Circa 1753 (Horeki 3) – 1806 (Bunka 3)
Utamaro specialized in "Bijin-ga" (pictures of beautiful women), depicting delicate and beautiful women, and left behind a vast body of work. To express the beauty of women, he devised a technique of eliminating backgrounds, which earned him great acclaim for portraying facial expressions in a simple, sensual, and emotionally rich manner. His influence was so immense that the women who served as his models would subsequently draw the attention of all of Edo; however, this influence also led to him being targeted by the Shogunate of the time and eventually imprisoned. Following the opening of Japan, many of his works flowed overseas and are still strictly preserved in international museums today.
**The Secret to the Popularity of Utamaro’s Bijin-ga**Utamaro captured the hearts of Ukiyo-e fans by shifting away from the then-dominant full-body portraits toward compositions that focused on the upper body or omitted backgrounds to make the women stand out more prominently. In contrast to these bold compositions, the meticulousness and elegance of details—such as the individual strands of hair and the intricate patterns of the kimonos—are so refined that one never tires of looking at them. It is said that by skillfully incorporating contemporary trends—from the props held by the models to their clothing and hairstyles—his work became a fashion guide for the women of that era. Throughout his life as an artist until his final years, he continued to explore the possibilities of his work, utilizing techniques such as using pigments made from mica or creating embossed patterns by firmly pressing paper against the woodblock without ink to express textures through physical indentation.