- Keisai Eisen
nihongo|Keisai Eisen|渓斎英泉|extra= 1790 – 1848 was a Japanese
ukiyo-e artist who specialised in "bijinga " (woodcuts of beautiful women). His best works, including his "okubi-e" ("large head pictures"), are considered to be masterpieces of the "decadent"Bunsei Period (1818–1830). He was also known as Ikeda Eisen, and wrote under the name of Ippitsuan.Biography
Eisen was born in
Edo into the Ikeda family, the son of a noted calligrapher. He was apprenticed toKanō Hakkeisai , from whom he took the name Keisai, and after the death of his father he studied underKikugawa Eizan . His initial works reflected the influence of his mentor, but he soon developed his own style.He produced a number of
surimono (prints that were privately issued), erotic prints, and landscapes, includingThe Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō , which he started and which was completed byHiroshige . However, his most famous works are the "bijin-e" (pictures of beautiful women) which portrayed the subjects as more worldly than those depicted by earlier artists, replacing their grace and elegance with a less studied sensuality. He produced many portraits and full-length studies depicting the fashions of the time.In addition to producing a prolific number of prints, he was a writer, producing biographies of the
Forty-seven Ronin and several books, including a continuation of the "Ukiyo-e Ruiko " ("History of Prints of the Floating World"), a book which documented the lives of the ukiyo-e artists. His supplement is known as "Notes of a Nameless Old Man". He describes himself as a dissolute hard-drinker and claims to have been the owner of a brothel in Nezu in 1830s which had burned down.References
*cite web|url=http://www.artelino.com/articles/keisai-eisen.asp|title= Keisai Eisen|author=Dan McKee|date=|accessdate=30 November|accessyear=2006
*cite web|url=http://spectacle.berkeley.edu/~fiorillo/texts/ukiyoetexts/ukiyoe_pages/eisen3.html|title= Keisai Eisen|author=John Fiorillo|date=1999|accessdate=30 November|accessyear=2006Persondata
NAME=Eisen, Keidai
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Ikeda Eisen,Ippitsuan
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print artist
DATE OF BIRTH=1790
PLACE OF BIRTH=Edo
DATE OF DEATH= 1848
PLACE OF DEATH=Edo
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