Which ukiyo-e artist was especially known for portraits of beautiful women, or bijin-ga?

Kitagawa Utamaro was especially known for ukiyo-e portraits of beautiful women, or bijin-ga.

Utamaro worked in Edo during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and became celebrated for close-up portraits of women. His prints often emphasized facial expression, hairstyles, clothing, and the social identities of courtesans, entertainers, and fashionable women.

His “large-head” portraits, known as ōkubi-e, made subtle differences in pose and expression especially important. Rather than presenting every sitter as an individual realistic portrait in the modern sense, Utamaro often combined recognizable social types with idealized beauty.

Utamaro is sometimes confused with Hokusai because both were internationally influential. Their principal subjects differed: Hokusai is strongly associated with landscapes, Mount Fuji, and illustrated books, while Utamaro is particularly associated with bijin-ga. Utamaro’s work also helped shape European interest in Japanese art during the nineteenth century.