Keisai Eisen

Japanese: 渓斎英泉 - けいさいえいせん

An ukiyo-e artist of the late Edo period. A member of the Ikeda clan, his common name was Zenjiro, and his given name was Shigeyoshi, later he changed his name to Yoshinobu. He first studied under Kano Hakukeisai and also became a disciple of Kikugawa Eizan, but in fact he learned ukiyo-e on his own. In addition to Keisai, he also used the artist names Keisai, Keisai, and Kokushunro, and used the pseudonyms Insai Hakusui for shunga, Ippitsuan Kako for gesaku, and Mumeio for essays. He painted from the middle of the Bunka era (1804-1818) until his death, and his range of work was extremely wide. There are many works that are considered masterpieces, but his portraits of beautiful women with a decadent atmosphere are unmatched. Particularly famous works include the "Kiso Kaido Sixty-nine Stations" series, which he painted with Utagawa Hiroshige, Western-style landscape paintings with frames in Ranji characters, and many of his beautiful women paintings in the Ookubie style. He also painted many works in other genres, but unusually for an ukiyo-e artist, he left behind several written works, and among them, "Zoku Ukiyo-e Ruiko" is still highly regarded today as a fundamental document on ukiyo-e.

[Nagata Seiji]

Keisai Eisen, "Twelve Views of Modern Beauties: The Ryōgoku Bridge"
National Diet Library

Keisai Eisen's "Twelve Views of Modern Beauties" is bothering me...

Keisai Eisen, "Forty-eight Ukiyoe Techniques: The Promised Techniques of Waiting at a Teahouse"
National Diet Library

Keisai Eisen's "Forty-eight Ukiyo-e Techniques: Waiting at a Teahouse..."

Keisai Eisen's "Oirandakaga Bi"
National Diet Library

Keisai Eisen's "Oirandakaga Bi"

Keisai Eisen, "The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kiso Kaido, Part 4: A Distant View of Mount Asama from Urawa Station, a Route along the Kisokaido"
National Diet Library

Keisai Eisen “The Sixty-nine Stages of the Kiso Kaido, the Fourth Shiso…

Keisai Eisen, "The 69 Stations of the Kiso Highway, 13th Edition: A View of the Karasu River at Kuragano Inn on the Kiso Highway"
National Diet Library

Keisai Eisen's "The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Highway, Volume 13: Kiso..."

Keisai Eisen “Scenery of Eitai Bridge in Tōto”
National Diet Library

Keisai Eisen “Scenery of Eitai Bridge in Tōto”

Keisai Eisen, "View of Mount Fuji from Nihonbashi Bridge in Edo"
Western-style landscape painting (National Diet Library )

Keisai Eisen, "View of Mount Fuji from Nihonbashi Bridge in Edo"

Keisai Eisen "Prostitute in a Temporary Residence"
Indigo-printed painting. Triptych. Owned by the National Diet Library .

Keisai Eisen "Prostitute in a Temporary Residence"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

江戸後期の浮世絵師。池田氏で、俗称を善次郎、名は茂義(しげよし)、のちに義信(よしのぶ)と改名した。初め狩野(かのう)白珪斎に師事し、また菊川英山の門人となったが、実際は独力で浮世絵を学んだ。画号には渓斎のほかに涇斎(けいさい)、国春楼などを用い、春画には淫斎(いんさい)白水、戯作(げさく)には一筆庵可候(いっぴつあんかこう)、随筆には无名翁(むめいおう)などを号した。作画期は文化(ぶんか)年間（1804～1818）中期から没年に及び、作域はきわめて広い。代表作とされる作品は少なくないが、退廃的な雰囲気をもった美人画には他の追随を許さないものがある。とくに著名な作品としては、歌川広重(ひろしげ)とともに描いた『木曽(きそ)海道六拾九次』のシリーズや、蘭字(らんじ)の枠をもつ洋風風景画などがあり、美人画は大首絵(おおくびえ)風な作品に佳作が多い。他の分野にも多くを描いたが、浮世絵師としては珍しく幾種かの著述を残しており、なかでも『続浮世絵類考』は浮世絵の基本的な文献として、現在もなお評価が高い。

［永田生慈］

渓斎英泉『今様美人拾二景　気がかるそう　両国橋』
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渓斎英泉『今様美人拾二景　気がかるそう…

渓斎英泉『浮世四十八手　茶屋にまつやくそくの手』
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渓斎英泉『浮世四十八手　茶屋にまつやく…

渓斎英泉『おいらんだかが美』
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渓斎英泉『おいらんだかが美』

渓斎英泉『木曽海道六拾九次　第四　支蘇路ノ駅浦和宿浅間山遠望』
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渓斎英泉『木曽海道六拾九次　第四　支蘇…

渓斎英泉『木曽街道六拾九次　十三　木曽街道倉賀野宿烏川之図』
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渓斎英泉『木曽街道六拾九次　十三　木曽…

渓斎英泉『東都永代橋之景』
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