Utagawa Toyohiro
Japanese, 1773-1828
Beauty at the Mimeguri Shrine
INV-3213
Utagawa Toyohiro
Japanese, 1773-1828Edo period, Bunka era c. 1804/18
Beauty at the Mimeguri Shrine
Utagawa Toyohiro Japanese, 1773-1828 →Japanese (culture or style)hanging scrollpainting
Date
Edo period, Bunka era c. 1804/18
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink, colors and gold pigment on silk
Dimensions
70.5 × 26.5 cm (27 3/4 × 10 7/16 in.); Mounting: 158.1 × 37.2 cm (62 1/4 × 14 5/8 in.); Width including lower roller: W.: 42.6 cm (16 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Margaret Gentles
This fashionable woman is enjoying a cool evening by the Mimeguri Shrine, located on an embankment of the Sumida River, which flows through central Tokyo. Her clothing advertises her sophistication: a chic lightweight black kimono that reveals the colors of her robes underneath, with a complementary obi (sash). Toyohiro was a second-generation artist of the Utagawa School, the most prominent painters of ukiyo-e, or “floating world” pictures. The phrase “floating world” describes a way of life in premodern Japanese cities (17th–19th centuries) that celebrated enjoyment in fleeting pleasures such as art, beauty, and fashion.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806
Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
