Mary Cassatt and Kitagawa Utamaro: Depictions of Female Domestic Life

In 1853, a U.S. fleet led by Commodore Matthew Perry was officially received by the Japanese and, within the year, commercially isolated Japan signed treaties to open trade with the United States, France, Great Britain, and Russia. Among the multitude of exports that barraged Western markets from Japan were woodblock prints created by masters of the ukiyo-e school, such as Hokusai, Utamaro, and Hiroshige. Discover how the works of these master Japanese artists influenced the career of the renowned Impressionist artist, Mary Cassatt.