Artist · 5 prints
Keisai Eisen Prints
About Keisai Eisen
Keisai Eisen (1790–1848) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist born in Edo, present-day Tokyo, the son of a calligrapher. He trained first with the Kanō-school painter Kanō Hakkeisai, from whom he took the name Keisai, and then joined the circle of the ukiyo-e artist Kikukawa Eizan, from whom the name Eisen came. He spent his career in Edo as a painter, print designer and book illustrator.
Eisen is known for bijin-ga, pictures of fashionable women, and for ōkubi-e, close-up portraits of women's heads and shoulders; his best-regarded figure prints date from the Bunsei era (1818–1830). He also designed landscapes and erotic prints. In the mid-1830s he began the landscape series The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō, which Utagawa Hiroshige completed. His prints are held by museums including the Honolulu Museum of Art.
Keisai Eisen prints: reproductions of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints by the Edo-period artist, covering landscapes and pictures of women. The collection includes Autumn Moon at Mount Atago and Twilight Snow at Shinobugaoka from the series Eight Views of Edo, Itahana from The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō, Night Cherry Blossoms at Shin-Yoshiwara from Famous Places of the Eastern Capital, and Woman with a Writing Brush from A Contest of Beauties of the Floating World.
Our selection covers Eisen's two main subjects: the seasons and landmarks of Edo and the mountain road of the Kisokaidō, and the women of the city. The landscapes show moonlight, snow, evening and cherry blossom at night; the figure print shows a woman holding a writing brush.
The landscapes suit hallways, studies and living rooms, and the beauty print works well in a bedroom or dressing room. All prints are museum-quality reproductions, available unframed or framed with acrylic glazing, with free shipping and import duties covered.
