Enjoying the Cool Evening Breeze on and under the Bridge

Kitagawa Utamaro Japanese

Not on view

In this ambitious group of prints, beautiful women appear in two stage areas as both performers and audience. At the top, women and children pause from their stroll to take in the view of boating parties on the river.

The six panels of this hexaptych (with JP1685) were meant to be viewed singly or as a set. The individual compositions are masterfully united by the gazes that traverse the borders of the prints. Seen separately, each panel depicts a group of fashionably dressed spectators. When the panels are seen together, the observers become the observed.

Enjoying the Cool Evening Breeze on and under the Bridge, Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, ca. 1754–1806), Three sheets of a hexaptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper, Japan

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Enjoying the Cool Evening Breeze on and under the Bridge, Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, ca. 1754–1806), Three sheets of a hexaptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper, Japan
Enjoying the Cool Evening Breeze on and under the Bridge, Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, ca. 1754–1806), Three sheets of a hexaptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper, Japan
Enjoying the Cool Evening Breeze on and under the Bridge, Kitagawa Utamaro (Japanese, ca. 1754–1806), Three sheets of a hexaptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper, Japan

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