An exhibition dedicated to Kitagawa Utamaro

Probably the most familiar Japanese artist in the West after Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro is best known for his portrayal of female beauties in ukiyo-e ('pictures of the Floating World'). Portraying a sensuous existence untroubled by the difficulties of work and politics, Utamaro's ukiyo-e are particularly celebrated for his fine depictions of drapery and attention to detail.

It is to the artist's renderings of women that the survey of Utamaro's woodblock prints, currently on show at Birmingham's Ikon Gallery (until 14 November), is primarily devoted. An artist of his time, Utamaro gave particular attention to the courtesans of Yoshiwara, the regulated brothel district of Edo (now Tokyo) and the works on view include a number of shunga pieces - sexually explicit images created for the pleasure of the inhabitants of the 'City of Bachelors'. 

The exhibition, which is taken from the collection of the British Museum, is co-curated by British artist Julian Opie and Timothy Clark, Head of the Japanese Section at the Museum, and follows Opie's involvement with Ikon's 2007 exhibition of woodblock prints by Utagawa Hiroshige, another Japanese artist of ukiyo-e.