Girls Entertained by Performers, from the illustrated book Flowers of the Four Seasons

Description

In Girls Entertained by Performers, women sit in a room looking toward entertainers at the right-hand doorway in Kitagawa Utamaro’s image. A folding screen or art panel occupies the lower left, while a crane mural extends the decoration behind the company. The assembled book spread gives performance an audience and a setting, making entertainment part of the room’s shared life.

Published in 1801, the woodblock image belongs to Flowers of the Four Seasons and uses ink and color on paper. Its interest lies in the relationship between people performing and people attending to them. Utamaro lets the interior contribute to that exchange rather than treating it as empty background. The scene brings companionship, decoration and a passing diversion together, preserving the quieter pleasures of an occasion enjoyed in company.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Kitagawa Utamaro collection.