 Exhibitions in Paris of Japanese art began to be staged in the 1880s, include an Utamaro exhibition in 1888 by the German-French art dealer Siegfried Bing.The French Impressionists regarded Utamaro's work on a level akin with Hokusai and Hiroshige.French artist-collectors of Utamaro's work included Monet, Degas, Gauguin, and Toulouse-Lautrec

Utamaro had an influence on the compositional, colour, and sense of tranquility of the American painter Mary Cassatt's work.