Background
Eisen was born in 1790 in Edo into the Ikeda family, the son of a noted calligrapher.
渓斎 英泉
Eisen was born in 1790 in Edo into the Ikeda family, the son of a noted calligrapher.
He was apprenticed to Kanō Hakkeisai, from whom he took the name Keisai, and after the death of his father he studied under Kikugawa 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, including The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō, which he started and which was completed by Hiroshige.
However, his most famous works are the bijin-ga (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 died in 1848.
Omiya yado Fuji enkei (no.50)
Pipe Smokers
Beauty and Sumida River - Edo Meisho Bijin Awase
A bust portrait of a beauty
The Courtesan Kaoru of Owariya matched with Okitsu
Cards, Fukujuso Flowers and Screen
Guojo (Kakukyo) from the series Twenty-four Examples of Filial Devotion in the Floating World (Ukiyo nijushiko)
Hanamurasaki of the Tamaya, from the series Eight Views of the Pleasure Quarters (Kuruwa hakkei)
A Couple Locked in an Embrace
Kogiku
Autumn Moon over Atago Hill (Atagosan no aki no tsuki) from the series Eight Views of Edo
Beautiful Oiran
Rambunctious
Numazu: Senju of the Ôsakaya
View of Lake Suwa as Seen from Shiojiri Pass
Nihonbashi, pl. 1 from a facsimile edition of Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Highway
An allegory of Komachi visiting
Children's Pastimes: A Procession on Nihon Bridge
Streetwalker (Tsujigimi)
No. 44, Magome Station
Daikoku, Ebisu, and Fukurokuju Counting Money
Unuma, pl. 53 from a facsimile edition of Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Highway
Lucky God Stepping on a Rat, from the series Twelve Treasures of the Rat
Shinagawa: Hot Tea
Returning Sails at Shiba Bay
Omiya, pl. 5 from a facsimile edition of Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Highway
Flower Arrangements
Decoration of three treasures and a mask of Otafuku
Rejected Geisha from Passions Cooled by Springtime Snow
Two of the Six Immortal Poets
No. 13-8-13, from an untitled series of beauties
A couple
Beauty and Shamisen
Planting the New Year's Pine
The Third Month, Cherry Blossoms in Naka-no-chô
Fuji from Izu (Izu no Fuji)
Snow Scene at Sensô-ji Temple at Kinryûzan in the Eastern Capital
Komagata-dô Temple at Onmaya Embankment (Onmaya-gashi)
Head of a Beauty
Portrait of the courtesan Kamoen of Ebiya relaxing on folded futon
A portrait of the courtesan Kashiko of Tsuruya
Seabattle
Mother and Boy with Ice
unknown title
Kanbara: Kaoyo of the Tamaya, from the series A Tôkaidô Board Game of Courtesans
No.41 Distant View of Kanagawa Bridge near Nojiri Station
Courtesan Hanaogi from the Ogi house
Yabai with Two Women
Ôi of the Ebiya, from the series Modern Customs of the Pleasure Quarters
Oiso
Okitsu, No. 18 from an untitled series of the Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road
Katsuyama of the Matsubaya
Evening glow at Ryogoku Bridge
Hiratsuka Station
The Courtesan Tamagawa of the Maruebiya House
Women on an Excursion
Fukagawa Hachiman no Shin Fuji, from the series Twelve Views of Modern Beauties (Imayô bijin jûni kei)
Mitate Yoshiwara Goju-san Tsui - Beauty
Fishing for Whitebait in the Bay off Tsukuda
The Courtesan Hitomoto of the Daimonjiya House
Woman by Plum Tree at Night
Shinagawa: Wakana of the Wakanaya
Goyu: Nanahito of the Sugata-Ebiya
Love on the Kamo River
Susaki Benten
Shunga Scroll
Shimada Station (Shimada shuku), No. 24 from an untitled series of the Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road 1830
Evening Bell at Mii-dera Temple
Kiyomizu Komachi
The Ninth Month, Chôyô
No. 2 (Ni) from the series Popular Indigo Clothing (Ryuko ai shitate)
No. 15, Itahana, from the series The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidô Road (Kisokaidô rokujûkyû tsugi no uchi)
Clearing Weather at Awazu (Awazu seiran), Tamagawa of the Maru-Ebiya, kamuro Katsumi and Shinobu, No. 4 from the series Eight Views in the Yoshiwara (Yoshiwara hakkei)
Butterfly and Gourd
Woman in Snow
Toyooka of the Okamotoya
Bijin
Seki: Shiratama of the Sano-Matsuya
The Kirifuri Falls, One of the Three Waterfalls
Chôdayû of the Okamotoya, kamuro Kakeo and Koyuki
Chrysanthemums and Dragonfly
Love Boat
Miya: Yashio of the Ôgiya
Courtesan and Riddle
from the series Tôto meisho, Kokoro no nazo sugata awase
No. 2, from the series Modern Versions of the Five Women (Tôsei gonin onna)
A Ferry Boat on the Sumida River
Flower Arranging
unknown title
(Otonashisô, Tsukuda Shinchi no irifune), from the series Twelve Views of Modern Beauties (Imayô bijin jûni kei)
Dinner and Love on the River
He describes himself as a dissolute hard-drinker and claims to have been the owner of a brothel in Nezu in the 1830s which had burned down.