KITAGAWA Utamaro / 喜多川歌麿

Ukiyo-e painter, printmaker. Lived in Edo. Son (?) and pupil of Toriyama Sekien. Influenced by Kitao Masanobu and Torii Kiyonaga. The themes of his prints were taken largery from the lives of women, also he made many ōkubi-e. In 1788 his two of his most impirtant works appeared: Mushi Erabi (Incect Book) and Uta Makura (Pillow of Poems). In 1804 he was arrested and imprisoned in 1804 for publishing a triptych that violated a government prohibition. One of the first Japanese artists known in Europe.

Roberts, Laurance, P. "A Dictionary of Japanese Artists", John Weatherhill Inc., New York, 1980, p. 193