Young lady blowing on a poppin ～Ukiyoe by Utamaro～
It is a refreshingly beautiful painting depicting a popular town girl of the time.
This is a drawing from the series of “Ten Women’s Personalities” published around 1790–91.
Poppin’ is an old toy made of glass, imported and in vogue at the time.
It is shaped like a thin-necked flask with a thin bottom, and when the long, tubular neck is placed in and out of the mouth and breathed in and out, the bottom is dented or protruded by the difference in air pressure and the elasticity of the glass to produce a sound.
In addition to being used as a toy, it is also used to blow on the New Year to drive away evil spirits.
◆Commentary
Instead of the traditional full-body paintings of beauties, he presented a new style of composing a woman’s upper body and face to fill the screen.
The hairline and detailed facial expressions are drawn more clearly.
Also, wearing a kimono with a checkered pattern, which seems to have been very popular at the time because it was worn by the popular actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu.
It is also the motif for the official emblem of the next year’s 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
◆About Utamaro
During the golden age of ukiyo-e, he was active as a painter of beautiful women.
However, its life is actually not well known.
Entering the Kansei period, he made his name known as the leading authority on ukiyoe and beauty painting, drawing attractive pictures of reputed town girls and prostitutes.
Utamaro’s paintings of “Nambaya Okita”, “Takashima Ohisa”, and “Tomimoto Hina”, reputed beauties of the town, were said to be the three greatest beauties of the Kansei period, and their paintings sold like hotcakes.
Utamaro is also a self-confident artist and includes words of praise in
his paintings. For example, in a letter written by a flower girl, he wrote, “Utamaro does not like to be imitated and does not copy others’ paintings.
In response to this, Utamaro’s popularity further increased.
