The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro [Paperback]

The book comprises two volumes, the first of which contains a number of essays and a listing of the works appearing in the exhibition. The list divides Utamaro's oeuvre into several categories: signatures and seals, paintings, woodblock prints, and illustrated books. Within each of these categories, the works are listed in roughly chronological order. Each item is accompanied by a small black and white reproduction as well as a short commentary which gives the reader some contextual background on figures, objects, and inscriptions which appear in the work. The commentary is by no means comprehensive, but it does provide some basic information for a reader or viewer who might not be familiar with Edo art and culture.

In the second volume of the catalogue, each work discussed in the first appears in full color. Most of the reproductions are given either half or a quarter of a page, though a number of pictures occupy an entire page. Interestingly, almost all of the full page reproductions portray women, many of them in a state of semi-undress, with bare breasts or legs peeking through their kimonos. The preeminence given to these women, as well as the use of the word "passionate" in the catalogue's title, implies that the emphasis of this exhibition is on the erotic aspect of Utamaro's work. In the eyes of Asano and Clark, Utamaro's insects, actor prints, and landscape pictures are quite clearly secondary in importance to the bijinga. While this emphasis on the bijinga prints may not seem surprising, given that this is the subject of a large portion of Utamaro's work, I suspect that the treatment of these bijinga prints also has to do with the fact that the organizers of the exhibition wish to emphasize the universal appeal of Utamaro's work. In their introductory notes to the catalogue, the director of the British Museum, the mayor of Chiba City, and the representative of Asahi Shimbun, one of the major organizers of this exhibition, mention the goal of "international cultural exchange." One of the major goals of the exhibition in London, it seems, was to re-introduce European viewers to the prints which had gained so much popularity there in the nineteenth century. In his essay in the beginning of vol. 1, Nobuo Tsuji explains that the exhibition, in his view, should present the "universal as opposed to the exotic appeal" of Utamaro's work. And what could be more universal, more cross-culturally comprehensible, than sex appeal? We all understand sex. Regardless of how referentially opaque certain actor prints or illustrated poems may be to a western audience, most viewers can on some level relate to the image of an alluring woman.

Thanks to the catalogue's softcover binding, the book is flexible enough to allow one to view each page flat, meaning that the pages are less likely to catch the glare from the lights which often annoys readers of books with glossy prints. The reproductions are of good quality, with very few works printed too small for the reader to be able to discern their content. Overall, Asano and Clark's catalogue seems quite comprehensive and well put together. While the preeminence of Utamaro's beautiful women on the one hand de-emphasizes slightly his other subjects, it also serves to unify the catalogue and bring to the foreground an area in which Utamaro truly excelled.