Mother and Child

Description

In Mother and Child, a mother bends toward an infant held close at the breast and arm, her large black coiffure framing the intimate encounter. Green and pale robe fabric contrasts with the baby’s red cloth. Kitagawa Utamaro concentrates the scene around the pair’s close presence, giving a familiar relationship visual immediacy through the meeting of faces, bodies and surrounding textiles.

Dating to around 1790, the woodblock print uses ink and color on paper. Its Edo-period subject gives an ordinary relationship a lasting visual form, allowing the encounter to be regarded beyond the pace of daily life. The image’s interest lies in that close connection, where family presence can carry significance without requiring an elaborate setting or narrative explanation.

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