KIKUKAWA EIZAN

Kikukawa Eizan  Publisher: Ota Memorial Museum , 2017 As New Soft cover 1st Edition 198 Pages, Text in Japanese, Illustrated in color - Kikukawa Eizan - first edition Paperback by the Ota Memorial Museum of Art - 298 x 224 mm - As new copy. Very rare - Here under a text from the editors website - "Kikukawa Eizan (1787-1867) was an ukiyo-e artist playing an active part especially in the Bunka era (1804-1818) after the death of Kitagawa Utamaro. While many ukiyo-e artists portrayed beautiful women in the sophisticated and ethereal Utamaro style, Eizan ushered in a new phase in the bijinga genre; although his women too wear the latest fashionable kimonos, he established his own sweet down-to-earth vision of female beauty. His works portrayed a diverse range of women from different social classes, such as the graceful young ladies of samurai families, charming daughters of merchants, or flamboyant courtesans. We see them sleek, svelte, and elegant, or sometimes bright, colorful, and fashionable. In recent years, Eizan’s bijinga are not well-known, but these works would have profoundly influenced not only his pupil Keisai Eisen, but also such later artists as Utagawa Kunisada and Utagawa Kuniyoshi. It is no exaggeration to say that bijinga in the 19th century started from Eizan. This year commemorates the 150th year since the death of Kikukawa Eizan. This exhibition is made up of some 200 outstanding works, covering wood-block prints and nikuhitsu-ga (original paintings), including important representative pieces and works shown to the public for the first time; together they once again shine the spotlight on Kikukawa Eizan’s achievements as an ukiyo-e artist. We would be grateful if, through this exhibition, you can fully enjoy the fascination of Eizan’s beauties that blossomed so gracefully in response to the culture of the late Edo period. Finally, we would like to sincerely express our gratitude to all those collectors who loaned their valuable works and materials to the exhibition, and all those involved in the mammoth task of assembling this wonderful display of the artist’s works" # 079979