Woman Exhaling Smoke from a Pipe (Kiseru no kemuri o fuku onna), from the series Ten Classes of Women's Physiognomy (Fujō ninsō juppon)

Woman Exhaling Smoke from a Pipe (Kiseru no kemuri o fuku onna), from the series Ten Classes of Women's Physiognomy (Fujō ninsō juppon), is one of Kitagawa Utamaro's most celebrated half-length bijin-ga and a cornerstone of his contribution to Edo bijin-ga and ukiyo-e portraiture. The Art Institute of Chicago holds an impression of this color woodblock print, dated about 1792, in which a solitary woman is shown turning slightly aside as she releases a thin stream of smoke from a long-stemmed kiseru pipe. The print belongs to a series in which Utamaro borrowed the language of physiognomy, a popular pseudoscience for reading character from facial features, and applied it to types of women drawn from Edo's everyday and pleasure-quarter life. By placing the figure against a plain mica or pale ground and cropping her at the waist, he focuses attention entirely on the curve of her neck, the soft set of her mouth, the lift of her hand, and the precisely observed angle of the smoke as it leaves her lips. The economy of line and the restrained, atmospheric palette typical of Utamaro's mature ukiyo-e are fully evident here, as is his interest in moments of private absorption rather than narrative action. The series helped define a model of psychological portraiture within bijin-ga, treating ordinary gestures, a yawn, a glance, a puff of smoke, as keys to a sitter's inner life. The Art Institute of Chicago's impression preserves both the elegance of the design and the subtle effects of the publisher's printing, making it an exemplary touchstone for anyone studying Utamaro and Edo bijin-ga.