Two Beauties
Kitagawa Utamaro Japanese
Not on view
Utamaro, the well-known ukiyo-e painter and printmaker, was a disciple of the Kano artist Toriyama Sekien (1712–1788). In this work, a well-dressed girl from a wealthy merchant family is contrasted with a seated woman wearing a simple cotton kimono that is open at the breast. In the Chinese-style couplet inscribed at the upper left by Ubu Kanjin, two butterflies stand in for the two beauties:
It is strange how a pair of butterflies
Come fluttering towards me, fly
away, then return.
Perhaps they wish to enter through
my gauze window.
It is as if a spring breeze is forcing
open the window
And filling the room with the spirit
of spring.
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