Kitao Shigemasa was the son of an Edo publisher and bookseller. He may have studied with Nishimura Shigenaga (c. 1697-1756), although other artists may have influenced his style, including Harunobu. Shigemasa's pupils included some important figures of the age, such as Kitao Masanobu (Santô Kyôden, 1761-1816), Kitao Masayoshi (1764-1824), and Kubô Shunman (1757-1820). He may also have taught, in some limited or unofficial capacity, Utamaro and Hokusai.

Shigemasa was certainly one of the leading print designers of his time, yet his works are less familiar than they deserve to be, given their obvious charm and finely balanced compositions, often of a notable simplicity. A large percentage of Shigemasa's surviving works are in album and book format, while many of his single-sheet prints are unsigned. He also collaborated with other ukiyo-e artists, among them Shunshô,including the well-known chûban format series Kaiko yashinaigusa ("The Cultivation of Silkworms"), circa 1772.

Among Shigemasa's masterpieces are a number of full-length portraits of geisha (see the illustration on the right). This ôban-format print depicts two geisha from Fukagawa ("Deep River"), an area outside the immediate jurisdiction of Edo city magistrates southeast of the Sumida River. Fukagawa was a very popular, unlicensed pleasure district, the best of those in competition with the government-sanctioned and more expensive Yoshiwara.

Fukagawa courtesans worked under yobidashi (a "summoning" arrangement) whereby they were sent to service their customers at restaurants, teahouses, and inns near the river. They were known for their own brand of style and sophistication, and for the most part they did not follow the complicated protocols of their high-ranking Yoshiwara sisters. Fukagawa geisha, such as the two portrayed by Shigemasa, were also known as Tatsumi geisha, considered especially seductive and accomplished in the arts of dance, musicianship, and conversation. They typically wore understated kimono and usually dispensed with tabi (socks), going barefoot instead, as in Shigemasa's print. This design is from the series Toto no bijin no zu ("Pictures of Beauties from the East"), circa late 1770s. It is unsigned, as are so many of the prints attributed to Shigemasa, but the style is distinctive and entirely consistent with the artist's signed works, so there is little doubt as to its designer. Less than a decade after the death of Harunobu, the figure and format size had increased substantially, signaling a new aesthetic in the conception of beauty and style for bijinga (prints of beautiful women; see also the discussion on Koryûsai). Shigemasa's women have an restrained allure that places them among the masterpieces of ukiyo-e portrait prints. © 2001 by John Fiorillo

[This page is dedicated to the memory of Paul Schweitzer,
friend and print dealer, who provided the Shigemasa print.]

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Gentles, M.: The Clarence Buckingham Collection of Japanese Prints: Volume II. Art Institute of Chicago, 1965, pp. 275-292.