Chôbunsai Eishi was an ukiyo-e painter and print designer, known primarily for his depictions of tall, thin, graceful beauties.
The eldest son of a local Edo samurai official, Eishi received Kanô school training and served as an official court painter to the shogunate for a number of years. His art-name, Eishi, was granted him by the shogun himself.
In the mid-1780s, however, Eishi made a dramatic change, and moved from the realm of elite painting to ukiyo-e. His style shows influence from Utamaro, Torii Kiyonaga and others, but bears distinctive elements as well. Eishi's women are tall and slender, a continuation and development of a trend begun by Utamaro and Kiyonaga, and they bear a refinement and grace rarely exceeded by the figures in bijinga by other artists.
Around 1800, he quit print designs, and turned his attention more fully to painting. It is said that one of his handscrolls, depicting scenes along the Sumidagawa, so impressed the wealthy patrons for whom it was painted that they presented it at a special showing to the Imperial family. This was an especially rare honor for a plebian ukiyo-e piece, one which perhaps no other ukiyo-e artist ever enjoyed.
Though Eishi never formally established a school and trained but a few direct pupils, ukiyo-e connoisseur Richard Lane identifies a number of artists who followed in Eishi's footsteps, describing them as "among the most fascinating secondary figures in ukiyo-e history"[1]. They include Chôkôsai Eishô, Rekisentei Eiri, Chôkyôsai Eiri, and Ichirakutei Eisui.
References
- Lane, Richard. Images from the Floating World. New York: Konecky & Konecky, 1978. pp141-145.
- ↑ Lane. p142.