Two women meet through the slats of a reed blind

A young woman with a tall black coiffure wears an orange-red kimono patterned with a cream key-fret design over a black-and-white patterned under-robe, and raises one hand toward a reed blind whose diagonal slats cross the upper right. Behind her, seen through the blind, a second woman in a robe of red-and-white blossoms appears in muted yellow and grey. A flowering spray and a vertical title cartouche stand at upper right beside the signature.

Kitagawa Utamaro (c. 1753–1806) defined the ukiyo-e portrait of women. Working with the publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō in the 1790s, he introduced the ōkubi-e, or large-head print, which brought the viewer close enough to read a glance or a gesture, and he gave the beauties of the Yoshiwara district individual faces and names. Mica grounds, transparent textiles and fine line work made his prints the most refined of their day. His work is held by the British Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.