Fine Art Poster
From £28
A giclée print on 200gsm matte fine art paper, using a twelve-colour process for accurate, fade-resistant colour. Supplied unframed, delivered flat or rolled.
Performance of a Trained Monkey - Kitagawa Utamaro
Regular price
£28.00 GBP
Sale price
£28.00 GBP
Regular price
Archival giclée
Frames arrive ready to hang
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Made to order
Description
A woodblock print by Kitagawa Utamaro depicting a domestic scene of a trained monkey performance, taken from the anthology The Young God Ebisu.
This woodblock print by Kitagawa Utamaro originates from the illustrated poetry anthology titled The Young God Ebisu (Waka Ebisu), published around 1802. The composition depicts a domestic scene where a group of figures gathers to observe a street performer and his trained monkey. The monkey, dressed in a small red garment, stands at the centre of the room, held by a tether. To the right, two musicians accompany the performance with a shamisen and small percussion instruments.
Utamaro employs a characteristic Ukiyo-e approach, utilising flat planes of colour and clear, controlled lines to define the figures and their surroundings. The interior space is framed by decorative elements, including a large folding screen featuring a monochrome landscape painting, which adds a layer of depth to the composition. The figures are rendered with the artist's typical attention to posture and gesture, capturing the quiet focus of the audience. The colour palette remains restrained, relying on muted greens, soft ochres, and subtle reds to maintain a balanced visual harmony.
As a master of the bijin-ga genre, Utamaro often focused on the lives of women, yet his work for poetry anthologies allowed him to explore broader social interactions and domestic customs of the Edo period. This print provides a glimpse into the entertainment culture of the time, where itinerant performers brought music and animal acts into private residences. The inclusion of the poetry anthology context suggests that such prints were intended for a literate audience, blending visual art with literary appreciation. The print demonstrates the technical precision of the woodblock medium, with fine lines used to delineate the patterns on the kimonos and the textures of the room's architecture.
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Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Complete The Look
Performance of a Trained Monkey - Kitagawa Utamaro
Regular price
From £28.00 GBP
Sale price
From £28.00 GBP
Regular price
Fine Art Poster / A4 (21x29.7 cm) / -
Artist Biography
Kitagawa Utamaro
Utamaro was arrested in 1804 for making prints depicting the sixteenth-century military ruler Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He was manacled for fifty days. He died two years later, at roughly fifty-three. The connection between the punishment and the death is debated, but the timing suggests something broke.
Almost nothing is certain about his early life. He was born around 1753, possibly in Edo, possibly in Kyoto, possibly in Kawagoe. He began publishing prints in the 1770s under the guidance of the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo, who recognised what Utamaro could do with a portrait of a woman.
What he could do was unprecedented. He invented the okubi-e format: large head-and-shoulders portraits of individual women, mostly from the Yoshiwara pleasure district, printed in close-up with minimal background. Before Utamaro, bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) showed groups of figures in full length. He isolated the face, the tilt of the head, the expression. The prints are psychologically specific in a way that had not existed in Japanese printmaking.
He also published books of insect studies and volumes of shunga (erotica), and he made portraits of ordinary town women, not just courtesans. Ohisa and Okita, two shopgirls who appeared in his Three Beauties of the Present Day, became famous across Edo because of his prints. He turned real people into celebrities, which may be the first documented instance of an artist functioning as a kind of media platform.
Tsutaya Juzaburo died in 1797. Utamaro was reportedly devastated. Some critics feel his work never reached the same level afterward. He produced over two thousand prints in his career.
Almost nothing is certain about his early life. He was born around 1753, possibly in Edo, possibly in Kyoto, possibly in Kawagoe. He began publishing prints in the 1770s under the guidance of the publisher Tsutaya Juzaburo, who recognised what Utamaro could do with a portrait of a woman.
What he could do was unprecedented. He invented the okubi-e format: large head-and-shoulders portraits of individual women, mostly from the Yoshiwara pleasure district, printed in close-up with minimal background. Before Utamaro, bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) showed groups of figures in full length. He isolated the face, the tilt of the head, the expression. The prints are psychologically specific in a way that had not existed in Japanese printmaking.
He also published books of insect studies and volumes of shunga (erotica), and he made portraits of ordinary town women, not just courtesans. Ohisa and Okita, two shopgirls who appeared in his Three Beauties of the Present Day, became famous across Edo because of his prints. He turned real people into celebrities, which may be the first documented instance of an artist functioning as a kind of media platform.
Tsutaya Juzaburo died in 1797. Utamaro was reportedly devastated. Some critics feel his work never reached the same level afterward. He produced over two thousand prints in his career.
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Fine Art Framed
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The same fine art print in a solid wood frame with UV-protective acrylic glaze and rigid backing. Five frame colours. Arrives ready to hang.
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