''Tsuitate no Danjo'' (, "Man and Woman by a Partitioning Screen", ) is a title given to a multicolour print by the Japanese

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...

artist

Kitagawa Utamaro Kitagawa Utamaro ( ja, 喜多川歌麿; – 31 October 1806) was a Japanese artist. He is one of the most highly regarded designers of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, and is best known for his ''bijin ōkubi-e'' "large-headed ...

. It depicts a young man and woman by a ''

tsuitate A ''tsuitate'' (衝立) is a form of single-panel portable partition traditionally used in Japan since at least the 6th century. They may be made of wood, or a wood frame covered in paper or silk cloth. The panels are often illustrated, with pai ...

'' partitioning screen. The print delivers the feeling of several layers of translucency as the woman peers through the folded cloth of the man's ''

haori The is a traditional Japanese hip- or thigh-length jacket worn over a kimono. Resembling a shortened kimono with no overlapping front panels (), the typically features a thinner collar than that of a kimono, and is sewn with the addition of ...

'' and the man is seen through a silk gauze–covered portion of the ''tsuitate''.

Background

Ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...

art flourished in Japan during the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

from the 17th to 19th centuries, and took as its primary subjects

courtesans Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or oth ...

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is though ...

actors, and others associated with the "floating world" lifestyle of the pleasure districts. Alongside paintings, mass-produced

woodblock prints Woodblock printing or block printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper. Each page or image is crea ...

were a major form of the genre. In the mid-18th century full-colour ' prints became common, printed using a large number of woodblocks, one for each colour. A prominent genre was ' ("pictures of beauties"), which depicted most often

and

geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female J ...

at leisure, and promoted the entertainments of the pleasure districts.

(–1806) made his name in the 1790s with his ''bijin

ōkubi-e An is a Japanese portrait print or painting in the ukiyo-e genre showing only the head or the head and upper torso. Katsukawa Shunkō I (1743–1812) is generally credited with producing the first ōkubi-e. He, along with Katsukawa Shunshō ...

'' ("large-headed pictures of beautiful women") portraits, focusing on the head and upper torso, a style others had previously employed in portraits of kabuki actors. Utamaro experimented with line, colour, and printing techniques to bring out subtle differences in the features, expressions, and backdrops of subjects from a wide variety of class and background. Utamaro's individuated beauties were in sharp contrast to the stereotyped, idealized images that had been the norm.

Description and analysis

''Tsuitate no Danjo'' is a multicolour ''

nishiki-e is a type of Japanese multi-coloured woodblock printing; the technique is used primarily in ukiyo-e. It was invented in the 1760s, and perfected and popularized by the printmaker Suzuki Harunobu, who produced many ''nishiki-e'' prints between 17 ...

'' print made with ink on handmade ''washi'' paper in '' ōban'' size, about . It was published in by . It bears the mark of Moriya's publishing house Kinshindō and the seal ''Utamaro hitsu'' (, "the brush of Utamaro"). A ''

wakashū is a historical Japanese term indicating an adolescent boy, used particularly during the Edo period (1603–1867). status was indicated by haircut. Appearance and ceremonies properly referred to a boy between the ages at which his head was ...

'' (adolescent male) and young woman stand by a ''

'' portable partition, of a type covered with silk gauze over an opening in the middle to allow a breeze to pass through in the heat of summer. The woman crouches and peers through a portion of the man's light summer ''

''. It folds over at the bottom, so that it is less translucent there, and the man's lower body is also seen through the gauze of the ''tsuitate'', so that the print produces multiple levels of the translucent effect. The translucent effect in the prints required the highest level of skill from their carvers.

References

Works cited

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuitate no Danjo 1797 prints Works by Kitagawa Utamaro