Meeting Japanese masters 2 : Kitagawa Utamaro
Virtuoso sheer curtain
While her toddler is playing with a fan, a woman with needles, a yardstick and a pair of scissors examines a fabric for sewing work. Remarkable for its contrasts of yellow and blue, this print expresses all the virtuosity of Kitagawa Utamaro, whose works were real challenges for engravers and printers. The dressmaker's face, whose hair is represented by fine streaks, appears in transparency behind the polka dot veil. A feat, when you know that several woodcuts, one for each color, were necessary to obtain the final image!
Cherry blossoms, waterfalls, and snow-capped mountains adorn landscapes of extreme refinement. Courtesans in precious kimonos comb their hair or slide on the water; a magic turtle rises from the waves. In Aix-en-Provence, the collector Georges Leskowicz unveils for the first time in France his most beautiful treasures: some 150 prints of the greatest masters of Japan, assorted objects witnessing the wonders of the Edo period (1600 - 1868). From Hokusai to Hiroshige, excursion in images to the land of the Rising Sun Beaux-Arts
