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Hello Forum Members,

Here we have 2 woodblock prints that appear to be late 18th century Utamaro forgeries and I have questions you may be able to help with:

1. Can you read the name of the subject that is written to the left of each figure? I believe on the right of one it reads Shin-Yoshi-Wara (New Yoshiwara), Edo-Machi-Ichi-Cho-Me (A district of the Yoshiwara) and on the other print the only difference is Ni instead of Ichi.

2. Why would a print be made without a publisher or censor seal? Because they were in a book, portfolio, the censorship crackdown of the late 18th century, or dodging association with a forgery?

From what I've read, because of his success after 1791 Utamaro was the most forged artist both during and after his lifetime. It's reported that even publishers forged Utamaro signatures on slow moving artists' prints to make a few Yen and meet the insatiable appetite for Utamaro's work in the West.

The prints are oban size, rather mediocre quality, and as you can see very faded and tanned. There are 2 binding holes on the top edge of one and the bottom edge of the other.

There is no publisher or censor seal on either.

The paper has the correct orientation of the chain lines, a medium coarse quality pulp, uneven thickness, and the paper is very supple with minimal rigidity, it has a feel more like cloth than paper.

The print has even bleed through.

While the prints are consistent with late 18th century, the reasons I believe they are forgeries are:

1. The style is not of Utamaro, not at least as I know it, it is more like Eisen or Kunisada, but not quite.

2. We always look at the signature last. The signatures compare favorably with known prints, yet are distinct in two regards. First, the distance between the first and second character is uncharacteristically close. Second, the signatures are identical in both prints which means either they were stamped on after the print or the same signature was moved between the printing blocks.

3. Who do you believe the artist was?

There appear to be few existing obans done by Utamaro between 1782, when he changed his go, and 1790 when his style was refined. His work from these years has been termed as unmemorable. Of course I would love to discover evidence these are not a forgery and are from his early period.

I've poured over all 500 prints at the Boston MFA, every other image source I can find, and the closest prints I have found so far can be seen from the Library of Congress exhibition by clicking on the link below and scrolling down to find 3 late 19th century prints of Yoshiwara courtesans by an unknown artist. There are some strong similarities and some obvious differences as well.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts and leads to further research in who may have made these prints.

Thank you,
Michael









Link :Floating World

I saw these come up on eBay a week or so ago.
I was pretty dubious about them, so I didn't bid.

I think these are simply 19th century prints that have had the seals and signatures bleached off and a spurious Utamaro signature stamped in their place.

The style looks to me to be of around 1830-1840 or so, certainly not contemporary with Utamaro. I think your guess of Eisen is likely correct.

"forgery" = copy = reproduction ?

Forgery implies deliberate attempts to fool a buyer.

Copy implies a bit of flattery, the sincerest form of which is imitation, and reproduction implies straightforward honesty, perhaps with the intent of selling for enjoyment only.

Why do you call thse forgeries?

Thank you for your replies geo and Jim, answers to my questions are greatly appreciated.

geo, I'm not familiar with bleach removal, this is done without effect on the paper?

Jim, answer to your question is stated in OP.

Looking forward to hearing more.

Thank you,
Michael

I don't know if there's an accepted technique for removal of signatures and seals, but I know I've been able to remove graffiti, transfer stains, collector's seals and the like with a little soaking, judiciously applied hydrogen pyroxide, and a little fidgeting with the print, so I know it can be done. (These were "basket case" prints relegated to the junk drawer - I wasn't messing around with any "good" prints)

Plus, I've seen numerous other prints with spurious signatures attached and no trace of the original.

Also, the quality of the printing of the signatures in your prints just seems markedly different from the rest of the printing, and the two signatures from the top two prints look almost identical to me, indicating possibly the use of a stamp? I dunno.

I wouldn't discount what Hans Olaf has to say though, he's far more knowledgeable about such things than I am. I just fiddle around with prints a bit. He actually knows something about them.

Michael,

I believe these prints could well be genuine works by Utamaro - but definitely not by Utamaro I, who died many years before the hairstyle of these courtesans, with an excessive number of ornamental hairpins, became fashionable around 1820.

Utamaro II is known mostly for his long slender female figures in the style of his teacher, and I don't recall seeing prints by his hand that look anything like these before. But towards the end of his career his and his master's style was long out of fashion, and he may well have tried imitating more popular artists, like Eizan, Eisen and Kunisada.

Best regards,
Hans Olof

Hello Hans,

Thank you for your helpful reply, it makes sense.

Utamaro II used the same signature and the fashion is the same as shown in a Eisen print I own that was published by Wakasaya Yoichi circa 1825 (see below).

As I wrote before, while these 2 prints are similar in style of Eisen they are not comparable quality.

I will look more into Utamaro II to see what I can find.

Hopefully someone reading this will be able to dechipher the names shown. I've only been able to identify the Nai/Uchi and Un/Komo characters.

Thanks again Hans,
Michael

Most definitely not Utamaro I. Whether or not it is Utamaro II I don't know (I haven't looked at many Utamaro II), but its definitely 19th century. If its not Utamaro II, its certainly was not unusual for unscrupulous print sellers to remove the original artist's signature and place a more famous artist's signature in its place.

This type of "courtesans on parade" image is very common in the 19th century. The first courtesan is Wakatae of the Tamarou (I think this is the reading). The second courtesan is Kumoi of the Kukimanjiya.

Thank you very much Roo for your helpful translations.

Best regards,
Michael

Just a minor correction to Roo: the name of the house in the first print is Tama-ya, not Tamarô (Tamarou). The second character is a replacement for the more common 屋 ('house').

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