Large Head and Bust Portrait of Beauty 1797

Kitagawa Utamaro created this woodblock print of a woman in Japan sometime in the late 1700s. The image encapsulates prevailing ideas about female beauty during the Edo period. But we can also interpret it as a reflection on the social roles and expectations placed upon women in Japanese society at that time. Consider the woman's elaborate hairstyle and clothing, which suggest a high social status or profession, such as a courtesan or geisha. These women were celebrities within the pleasure districts of cities like Edo, the present-day Tokyo, but they were also commodities within a commercial sex industry. Utamaro’s image might reflect a tension between admiration and objectification. Art historians often consult a wide range of primary sources, including period documents, literature, and other visual materials to contextualize artworks like this. This helps us better understand the complex relationship between art and the prevailing social and institutional structures of its time.