Title : Bijin at the Mirror - ？人対鏡

Artist : Kitagawa Utamaro

Date : 1790

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Source : Ohmi Gallery
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Description : Supervised by Takamizawa of the Takamizawa publishing house. Notice that, for this series of prints (see others on my website), Takamizawa used deluxe printing techniques such as deliberate creasing to the mica background to mimic the effects of ageing (the mica on original prints was quite delicate and cracked easily). Included with each woodblock print is a windowed folder for viewing your print. This type of print shows a woman of the pleasure quarters. The Edo period red-light districts were officially sanctioned, however, they weren't the playground for just anyone. The popular top-class geishas of the day (known as 'oiran') were depicted in this type of print. In ukiyo-e woodblock prints, this close-up portrait view of the upper body is known as an okubi-e (bust portrait).

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