was a designer of

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk t ...

style Japanese woodblock prints. He first studied with his father, Eiji, a minor painter of the

Kanō school The is one of the most famous schools of Japanese painting. The Kanō school of painting was the dominant style of painting from the late 15th century until the Meiji period which began in 1868, by which time the school had divided into many di ...

, and subsequently with Suzuki Nanrei (1775–1844), of the

Shijō school The , also known as the ''Maruyama–Shijō'' school, was a Japanese school of painting. History It was an offshoot school of the Maruyama school of Japanese painting founded by Maruyama Ōkyo, and his former student Matsumura Goshun in the ...

. He is believed to have also studied with ukiyo-e artist Totoya Hokkei (1790–1850). He produced numerous woodblock prints of beautiful women (''

bijin-ga is a generic term for pictures of beautiful women () in Japanese art, especially in woodblock printing of the ukiyo-e genre. Definition defines as a picture that simply "emphasizes the beauty of women", and the ''Shincho Encyclopedia o ...

'') in the 1830s, but then abandoned printmaking in favor of painting. This artist should not be confused with Harukawa Eizan, an ukiyo-e print designer who was active in the 1790s. Eizan was the most prolific, longest-lived and ultimately the best of those late followers of

Utamaro Kitagawa Utamaro ( ja, 喜多川歌麿; – 31 October 1806) was a Japanese artist. He is one of the most highly regarded designers of ukiyo-e woodblock prints and paintings, and is best known for his '' bijin ōkubi-e'' "large-heade ...

who attempted to carry on the master's bijin style after his death in 1806. Along with Tsukimaro and Utamaro II, Eizan has generally been dismissed by connoisseurs as a plagiarist of Utamaro's late style, but his work in fact develops, like that of most ukiyo-e artists, from a close identification with a leading master to a studied independence, and contains pieces of remarkable beauty and interest. As Eizan reached artistic maturity he began to develop his own figural style, still focused for the most part on prints of beautiful women (''bijin-ga''). Eizan's work retains the sensitivities and lyricism that marks the Utamaro style, as opposed to the earthier realism and more overt sensuality of Kunisada and

Keisai Eisen Keisai Eisen (渓斎英泉, 1790–1848) was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist who specialised in ''bijin-ga'' (pictures of beautiful women). His best works, including his ''ōkubi-e'' ("large head pictures"), are considered to be masterpieces of th ...

. Eizan, like Toyokuni I in actor prints, is the last manifestation of the classical ukiyo-e style in bijin work, with harmonious colors and graceful lines and subjects. After him, one senses the introduction of a different aesthetic, with harsher colors, angular lines and less ethereal material, more of an emphasis, in sum, on the material weight of earthly life, rather than its transformation into something of elegance. With Eizan, the alchemy of elegance is still alive, and in his best work, properly produced, he can cast a magic glow over the forms of the world and create lightness and grace. He is also left-handed, which was strange at such a time in Japan.

Gallery

Vrouw met shamisen-Rijksmuseum RP-P-2008-218.jpeg, ''Woman with Shamisen''. 1808 Geisha Playing the Hand-Game Kitsune-ken (狐拳), a Japanese rock-paper-scissors variant, by Kikukawa Eizan (菊川英山).jpg, ''Geisha Playing the Hand-Game Kitsune-ken'', 1820 Kikukawa Eizan Bijin.jpg, Bijin Kikukawa Eizan - Untitled - Google Art Project (809353).jpg Eizan Kikugawa - Woman Performing the Tea Ceremony - 1921.321 - Cleveland Museum of Art.tif, ''Woman Performing the Tea Ceremony''

References

* Lane, Richard. (1978). ''Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press.
OCLC 5246796
* Newland, Amy Reigle. (2005). ''Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints.'' Amsterdam: Hotei.
OCLC 61666175
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kikukawa, Eizan Ukiyo-e artists Japanese printmakers 1787 births 1867 deaths