Product Description

Utamaro reinterprets the famous Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro (1753-1806) in the context of his times. Utamaro became one of the most influential artists working in the genre of ukiyo-e, "the pictures of the floating world," in late eighteenth-century Japan, and was widely appreciated for his prints of beautiful women. By drawing on a wide range of period sources, making a close study of selected print sets, and employing newer approaches in literature, art history, area, and gender studies, Davis reconstructs the place of the ukiyo-e artist within the commercial print market and demonstrates how Utamaro's images participated in a larger spectacle of gender and identity in the city of Edo (present-day Tokyo). Utamaro's authorial persona was defined through the print medium as an "artist" and an expert on women, marketing connoisseurial values for both art and the female body within Edo's entertainment culture. The notorious censorship of Utamaro and his colleagues in 1804 evidences how much this appropriation of cultural authorship also posed a challenge to the political establishment. The book thus offers a new approach to issues of the status of the artist and the construction of gender, identity, sexuality, and celebrity in the Edo period. A significant contribution to the field, this book will be appreciated by readers interested in Japanese arts and cultures, gender and women's studies, and in the broader issues of art history and cultural studies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #997171 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

About the Author
Julie Nelson Davis is assistant professor in the Department of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania and has written widely in the field of ukiyo-e studies.

Customer Reviews

Long winded
The publisher's description about this book makes it sound pioneering, which it isn't. It's a slow read and there are a number of mistakes in the text. Nelson Davis dwells on points too long so you get the urge to skip ahead and she argues that Utamaro wasn't so much a person as a created persona, like a brand name. She strips the artist of his individuality and implies he was little more than a tool with no real personal voice - not an argument that I think holds water. The usual Utamaro prints are illustrated so there's nothing new there.

Insightful
This book is one of the most significant and important contributions to the field of scholarship in ukiyo-e. The argument is more sophisticated than the previous reviewer suggests -- rather than "stripping" the artist of "his individuality" Davis argues convincingly that the prints were designed to sell an enhanced reputation for Utamaro -- and that he and his publisher used their connections and period ideas of sophistication to create an aura of celebrity around Utamaro. It's a scholarly book, not a general one, that uses an impressive range of theory, primary documentation, and close analysis to give a new idea of the ukiyo-e artist. If you don't believe me, consider Donald Richie's review in the Japan Times: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fb20080323dr.html