Eizan | Fashionable Scene at Low Tide at the South Station
菊川英山 Kikukawa Eizan（1787-1867）
風流南驛汐干
Fashionable Scene at Low Tide at the South Station
1810s
木版画 | 三联续绘-纵绘大判 | 38.2cm x 25.7cm x 3
Woodblock-print | Triptych Oban tate-e triptych | 38.2cm x 25.7cm x 3
早期版次；颜色鲜艳；品相非常好
Fine impression, color and condition
Shinagawa, now a glittering corner of Tokyo featuring multiple corporate headquarters, was once a fashionable pleasure district on the outskirts of town, and the first stop on the Tokaido highway to Kyoto. Many artists, such as Hiroshige, portrayed the teahouses that lined the road on one side, and the expansive bay on the other.
Here Kikukawa Eizen gives us a wonderful view from the second floor of a brothel, with three couplets of courtesans with elaborate headdresses chatting amongst themselves. It appears to be daytime, and in the background we see the sails of fishing boats and coastal freighters dotting the horizon, and fisherman scampering around the beach to collect shellfish. But the foreground is much more interesting.
What are these six beauties talking about? They wear intricate kimonos of various swirling and geometric designs. All around them we see hints that, despite the early hour, lots of merrymaking has already occurred in that room. On the tatami-mat floor we spy a man’s pipe, a colorful tenugi, a tea pot and, on the veranda, a package of tissue papers known as onko-togami, or “paper for the honorable act.”
In the right panel, one of the women has stopped playing her samisen and covers her mouth enticingly as she shares some gossip with her companion – perhaps something juicy about the other ladies just across the room?
今日的品川是全东京最闪亮的地块之一，两百年前亦然。
万里无云的好春日，地平线与广阔的海面融成一体，小渔舟的白帆片片与大货船的根根桅杆相映成趣。品川海滩上，人们趁着退潮间隙聚在海滩上拾贝玩闹，嬉戏声、跑跳声、沙砾摩擦声好似就在耳畔。
但如此丰富美好的场景，英山却选择奢侈地将其作为背景，为的是映衬前景游廓二层中的三对倩影：最左侧的高挑美人手搭凉棚，媚眼瞥向一边，正与身旁的姑娘念叨些体己话。中间二位在大快朵颐刺身美酒的伙伴，也赶紧饶有兴致地加入了进来；就连右侧那位弹奏三味线的姑娘也赶紧放下拨子，边听边与姐妹相视而笑。
作为引领彼时江户美人画坛风向的佼佼者，英山在本作中将自己梦幻纤巧的鲜明“英山样式”展现得淋漓尽致，姑娘们优雅玲珑的身姿，娇俏灵动的表情不仅使观者耳目一新，更影响着后世近百年的美人画创作者的作画风格，其承上启下的重要历史地位不言而喻。有赖于优良的保管贮藏，窗外摇曳的朵朵樱花，依然有如新摺般的娇嫩可爱。两个多世纪前的风流倩影，也随着时间的陈酿历久弥新，更添魅力。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
菊川英山 Kikukawa Eizan（1787-1867）
風流南驛汐干
Fashionable Scene at Low Tide at the South Station
1810s
木版画 | 三联续绘-纵绘大判 | 38.2cm x 25.7cm x 3
Woodblock-print | Triptych Oban tate-e triptych | 38.2cm x 25.7cm x 3
早期版次；颜色鲜艳；品相非常好
Fine impression, color and condition
Shinagawa, now a glittering corner of Tokyo featuring multiple corporate headquarters, was once a fashionable pleasure district on the outskirts of town, and the first stop on the Tokaido highway to Kyoto. Many artists, such as Hiroshige, portrayed the teahouses that lined the road on one side, and the expansive bay on the other.
Here Kikukawa Eizen gives us a wonderful view from the second floor of a brothel, with three couplets of courtesans with elaborate headdresses chatting amongst themselves. It appears to be daytime, and in the background we see the sails of fishing boats and coastal freighters dotting the horizon, and fisherman scampering around the beach to collect shellfish. But the foreground is much more interesting.
What are these six beauties talking about? They wear intricate kimonos of various swirling and geometric designs. All around them we see hints that, despite the early hour, lots of merrymaking has already occurred in that room. On the tatami-mat floor we spy a man’s pipe, a colorful tenugi, a tea pot and, on the veranda, a package of tissue papers known as onko-togami, or “paper for the honorable act.”
In the right panel, one of the women has stopped playing her samisen and covers her mouth enticingly as she shares some gossip with her companion – perhaps something juicy about the other ladies just across the room?
今日的品川是全东京最闪亮的地块之一，两百年前亦然。
万里无云的好春日，地平线与广阔的海面融成一体，小渔舟的白帆片片与大货船的根根桅杆相映成趣。品川海滩上，人们趁着退潮间隙聚在海滩上拾贝玩闹，嬉戏声、跑跳声、沙砾摩擦声好似就在耳畔。
但如此丰富美好的场景，英山却选择奢侈地将其作为背景，为的是映衬前景游廓二层中的三对倩影：最左侧的高挑美人手搭凉棚，媚眼瞥向一边，正与身旁的姑娘念叨些体己话。中间二位在大快朵颐刺身美酒的伙伴，也赶紧饶有兴致地加入了进来；就连右侧那位弹奏三味线的姑娘也赶紧放下拨子，边听边与姐妹相视而笑。
作为引领彼时江户美人画坛风向的佼佼者，英山在本作中将自己梦幻纤巧的鲜明“英山样式”展现得淋漓尽致，姑娘们优雅玲珑的身姿，娇俏灵动的表情不仅使观者耳目一新，更影响着后世近百年的美人画创作者的作画风格，其承上启下的重要历史地位不言而喻。有赖于优良的保管贮藏，窗外摇曳的朵朵樱花，依然有如新摺般的娇嫩可爱。两个多世纪前的风流倩影，也随着时间的陈酿历久弥新，更添魅力。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
菊川英山 Kikukawa Eizan（1787-1867）
風流南驛汐干
Fashionable Scene at Low Tide at the South Station
1810s
木版画 | 三联续绘-纵绘大判 | 38.2cm x 25.7cm x 3
Woodblock-print | Triptych Oban tate-e triptych | 38.2cm x 25.7cm x 3
早期版次；颜色鲜艳；品相非常好
Fine impression, color and condition
Shinagawa, now a glittering corner of Tokyo featuring multiple corporate headquarters, was once a fashionable pleasure district on the outskirts of town, and the first stop on the Tokaido highway to Kyoto. Many artists, such as Hiroshige, portrayed the teahouses that lined the road on one side, and the expansive bay on the other.
Here Kikukawa Eizen gives us a wonderful view from the second floor of a brothel, with three couplets of courtesans with elaborate headdresses chatting amongst themselves. It appears to be daytime, and in the background we see the sails of fishing boats and coastal freighters dotting the horizon, and fisherman scampering around the beach to collect shellfish. But the foreground is much more interesting.
What are these six beauties talking about? They wear intricate kimonos of various swirling and geometric designs. All around them we see hints that, despite the early hour, lots of merrymaking has already occurred in that room. On the tatami-mat floor we spy a man’s pipe, a colorful tenugi, a tea pot and, on the veranda, a package of tissue papers known as onko-togami, or “paper for the honorable act.”
In the right panel, one of the women has stopped playing her samisen and covers her mouth enticingly as she shares some gossip with her companion – perhaps something juicy about the other ladies just across the room?
今日的品川是全东京最闪亮的地块之一，两百年前亦然。
万里无云的好春日，地平线与广阔的海面融成一体，小渔舟的白帆片片与大货船的根根桅杆相映成趣。品川海滩上，人们趁着退潮间隙聚在海滩上拾贝玩闹，嬉戏声、跑跳声、沙砾摩擦声好似就在耳畔。
但如此丰富美好的场景，英山却选择奢侈地将其作为背景，为的是映衬前景游廓二层中的三对倩影：最左侧的高挑美人手搭凉棚，媚眼瞥向一边，正与身旁的姑娘念叨些体己话。中间二位在大快朵颐刺身美酒的伙伴，也赶紧饶有兴致地加入了进来；就连右侧那位弹奏三味线的姑娘也赶紧放下拨子，边听边与姐妹相视而笑。
作为引领彼时江户美人画坛风向的佼佼者，英山在本作中将自己梦幻纤巧的鲜明“英山样式”展现得淋漓尽致，姑娘们优雅玲珑的身姿，娇俏灵动的表情不仅使观者耳目一新，更影响着后世近百年的美人画创作者的作画风格，其承上启下的重要历史地位不言而喻。有赖于优良的保管贮藏，窗外摇曳的朵朵樱花，依然有如新摺般的娇嫩可爱。两个多世纪前的风流倩影，也随着时间的陈酿历久弥新，更添魅力。
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
Kikukawa Eizan (1787-1867)
Kikugawa Eizan can be considered the true heir to Utamaro, even if he never studied with that legendary master of beauties.
But history records he was deeply enamored of Utamaro’s work, and when Utamaro died, it was Eizan, and not one of Utamaro’s students, who truly filled the void. His bijin-ga prints paid hommage to the master’s style, especially their poses, but their narrow faces and slim bodies were perfected by Eizan. The kimonos in which he dressed his women were often quite intricate, as were their hairstyles, with both providing fascinating and useful glimpses of the styles in the ever-stylish Edo of the time.
Eizan was born to a painter, and in the end of his life it was apparently painting that warmed his passion most. He abruptly stopped designing prints around 1830, when he was 43, but kept painting for the rest of his life. He died at 81 in 1867.