INTRODUCTION
Kitigawa Utamaro’s Cooling Off by the Riverbank and Mary Cassatt’s In the Omnibus carry substantial similarities, for being from two entirely different regions. In both paintings, a pair of adult women are featured, with small child in tow. They are implied as being near a body of water or on some sort of coastline, and it is easy to believe that they are in a state of repose or relaxation. However, the art styles of the two painters take a very similar scene and restructure and repurpose them in a unique way individual to their home countries.
COOLING OFF BY THE RIVERBANK
In Utamaro’s painting, the two women are in kimonos, one white and one dark, but both patterned in an ornate manner. The child is also in a kimono, a boy of about 7 or 8, walking alongside them, attempting to catch up. He is behind them in a line, and the two women are looking back to him. In the background, we see a very detailed riverbank, complete with people on boats, bridges, and a coastline on the other side. The entire milieu looks to be very busy and hectic, making it seem as though the characters in the painting are going to join others for a social gathering.
IN THE OMNIBUS
In Cassatt’s painting, we see a very similar scene, in which two women have a child in tow near a body of water, but it is painted in a much simpler way. The two women are wearing simple petticoats and hats, with none of the ornate coloring or patterning the Japanese painting features. Instead of having a grown boy walking along side them, one of the women is carrying a small girl between them, wearing a small bonnet-like hat. The features outside are vague and blank, with the only background being a series of beams that look like the exterior of a ship. The three figures look like they are standing still and not going anywhere, instead paying attention to the child. This is in contrast to the Japanese painting, wherein the child is struggling to catch up, the women giving a cursory glance back at him as one woman holds his hand – both sets of women are paying attention to the child but in different ways.
The style of painting between the two countries and paintings is very different. The Japanese painting is ornate, about spectacle and design, with deeper colors and more intricate patterns, with a defined space in the background to set behind the characters. The American painting, on the other hand, is sparse, with not much to distract from the characters. The limited color palette in the American painting denotes an emphasis on character and emotion of the moment, while the Japanese painting seeks to dazzle with its spectacle and detail.
In the Japanese painting, the audience is meant to look at the visuals and take from their spectacle the primary message. With the American painting, its minimalism makes the emotion between the characters its sole defining trait. The two women are caring for the child, and that is all that is required to be seen from the painter. This is indicative of a pair of wildly contrasting ideas regarding art in Japan and America. In Japan, the visual image is king; the more complex, the better. In America, however, the emotional center of the piece is presented simply and without embellishment.
References
Cassatt, Mart (1891). In the Omnibus. American. Painting.
Utamaro, Kitigawa (18th century). Cooling Off by the Riverbank. Japanese. Painting.
