Page "Utamaro" Paragraph 4

Despite Kitagawa Utamaro ’ s success and celebrity status among his own world of popular culture, history of his life and career is insufficient.

Apparently, Art Historians faces the facts that there are no contemporary documents to help them certify his date of birth, birthplace, and family background – there have been theories and these are the most accepted – he was born in 1753, probably Edo, and his father was an owner of a Tea-house.

Kobayashi wrote, “ Kitagawa Utamaro was an outstanding figure in the world of popular art and literature, but that world itself was at the bottom of the social scale.

The low status of the ukiyo-e artist meant that the details of his life remain buried in obscurity ” ( Kobayashi, p 34 ).