Kitagawa utamaro biography

He produced over known prints and was one of the few ukiyo-e artists to achieve fame throughout Japan in his lifetime. In he was arrested and manacled for fifty days for making illegal prints depicting the 16th-century military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and died two years later. Utamaro emerged as one of the greatest masters of late eighteenth-century Japanese art and helped define the golden age of the woodblock printing technique. Early years First steps Professional growth Public recognition Peak period Later years Public interest Professional activity Media attention
Utamaro (born , Japan—died Oct. 31, , Edo, Japan—d.) was a Japanese printmaker and painter who was one of the greatest artists of the ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) movement; he is known especially for his masterfully composed portraits of sensuous female beauties.