In the time of Japan’s last feudal military government, ruled by the Tokugawa clan from 1603 to 1867, the government licensed “pleasure quarters,” where courtesans practiced prostitution and geishas entertained men by serving tea and food, dancing, performing music or chatting amiably.
The courtesans, who showcased their beauty and status by promenading in the streets in elaborate kimonos with their lavish entourages, became celebrities of the time, beloved by the public and by artists, who immortalized them in prints and paintings in the predominant ukiyo-e style.
Two magnificent paintings on view now at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford recall that time, and form the centerpiece of the new exhibit, “Utamaro and the Lure of Japan.”
“Cherry Blossoms at Yoshiwara,” a 1793 painting by Kitagawa Utamaro that is owned by the Atheneum, and “Fukagawa in the Snow” (1802-1806), another Utamaro on loan from the Okada Museum of Art in Hakone, Japan, are being exhibited together for the first time in more than 130 years, since they were exhibited together in a Japanese temple in 1879. “Utamaro” is the first exhibit of exclusively Japanese art at the Atheneum since 1951.
In the gallery by the side of “Cherry Blossoms” and “Fukagawa” hangs a reproduction of a third Utamaro painting, “Moon at Shinagawa.” The original is owned by the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which does not loan its holdings.
The three artworks together — the largest known paintings by the master artist — form a vivid picture of pre-Meiji Restoration Japan, or at least a vivid picture of its most celebrated women. Even though the women at all times were surrounded by worshipful men, no men appear in any of Utamaro’s paintings, which instead focus on the objects of fascination, the scores of elegantly and meticulously dressed beauties.
“The West found out about Japanese art in the late 19th century. At that time, French artists like Toulouse-Lautrec and Edgar Degas were fascinated by the seedy side of Paris, so there was a similar interest between West and East,” said Oliver Tostmann, the Susan Morse Hilles Curator of European Art, who organized the exhibit. “In both places, there was a huge interest in the demimonde, brothels, night life.”
“Cherry Blossoms at Yoshiwara” is a springtime scene set in a house in the most famous red-light district of Edo (present-day Tokyo). Downstairs, courtesans — identifiable by kimono sashes tied in the front — promenade in bright hues of blue and red, as cherry blossoms fall at their feet, surrounded by their servants and small girls who may themselves grow up to be courtesans.
Their hairstyles and hair ornaments inform onlookers of their status: the more complex, the more renowned the courtesan. Inside the home, other courtesans snuggle their babies, hide behind screens, chat amongst themselves and wait for customers. Upstairs, the geishas — with kimono sashes tied in the back — prepare for their male clients by setting up tea services, plucking stringed instruments and practicing their dances.
That painting was shown at the Atheneum in 2009 in an exhibit of “unknown masterpieces,” Tostmann said. “This show finally contextualizes it,” he said, placing it alongside other works by Utamaro.
“These paintings belong together. The big question is why they took so long to be executed and he never did it again, and was it him, or was it his workshop?” he added.
“Fukagawa in the Snow” is a winter scene. Sedately dressed geishas are identifiable not just by their sash ties but by their lower lips, which are painted green, as opposed to courtesans, whose lips are entirely red. The ladies relax before their evening work by gossiping, giggling behind their hands, watching birds flit in the trees, playing with babies and kittens, toting food into the house and gathering around a fire.
“Moon at Shinagawa” is a seaside scene, where children frolic as geishas and courtesans play music, gaze out at the boats on the ocean and show off their kimonos.
Utamaro’s intention was not to show differing seasons in his paintings, but to address the trilogy of themes — snow, moon and flowers — that were a traditional topic in Japanese culture.
All of the large pieces feature classical-style paintings inside the artworks, as the ladies gather around paintings of Mount Fuji, landscapes, dragons or animals. “Utamaro wants to remind us that he trained as an academic, that he didn’t just do ukiyo-e,” Tostmann said.
‘The Lure Of Japan’
Other objects in the show expand on the ukiyo-e theme, with works by Utamaro and other masters, including Katsukawa Shunsho, Suzuki Harunobu, Utagawa Toyokuni and Kubo Shunman, depicting scenes of upper-crust life and beautiful women. A pair of byobu screens showing men and women engaged in the crafting of military and civilian objects offers a more working-class view of life.
The second half of the exhibit’s title, “The Lure of Japan,” is directly reflected in the Atheneum’s collection, which has many pieces donated by Hartford-area families that began collecting Japanese art after Commodore Matthew Perry opened up Japan to trade from the West in 1854. A spectacular fireplace mantel, which the Colt family had in its Armsmear estate, is filled with examples of Japanese porcelain and cloisonné vessels and plates donated by the Colts and other families.
“There was a vivid interest in everything Japanese. Think about the place of Japan in the imagination as being like ‘Moby-Dick,'” Tostmann said of Herman Melville’s 1851 novel. “Japan is very present in that book. He hunted Moby-Dick in the Japanese sea. It was a curious, unknown territory. So Japan had a prominent place in the mind of Americans, and then it opened up and people saw all these amazing goods.”
During his mission, Perry brought gifts to the Japanese shoguns, including pistols from the Colt factory in Hartford. The shoguns returned the favor, sending back examples of their own firearms to be given to Samuel Colt. Those two pistols also are on view.
Utamaro And The Lure Of Japan will be at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main St. in Hartford, until March 26. thewadsworth.org.
