Chōkōsai Eishō

Colour print of the head and shoulders of a mediaeval Japanese woman in fancy dress
The Courtesan Someyama of the Matsubaya Brothel, from the series Contest of Beauties in the Gay Quarters
In this Japanese name, the family name is Chōkōsai.

Chōkōsai Eishō (鳥高斎 栄昌, fl. 1795–1801) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist. He is the most prominent student of Eishi and had a prolific output, primarily in the bijin-ga genre of portraits of beautiful women, many of which were ōkubi-e bust prints. He also used the name Shōeidō (昌栄堂)[1]

Eishō's personal details are unknown. His works that remain show a practised skill, so it is likely that they appeared after years of apprenticeship. His work is assumed to have been in competition with that of Utamaro. He produced at least twenty print series published by fourteen publishers, in particular for Yamaguchiya Chūsuke. He contributed twenty of the twenty-four print designs to the series Contest of Beauties of the Pleasure Quarters (Kakuchū bijin kurabe, c. 1795–1797); the remainder were by fellow Eishi students Eiri and Eiu.[1]

Eishō produced illustrations for a few books in c. 1798–1801, some of which were shunga erotica. Prints by him ceased appearing around 1801, the same year Eishi gave up print designing for painting. Eishō produced few paintings, and his reasons for giving up printmaking are unknown. A painting that remains is a handscroll of Eishi as an old man, made perhaps in the 1810s or 1820s.[1]

References

Works cited

  • Marks, Andreas (2012). Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks: 1680–1900. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4629-0599-7. 
  • Neuer, Roni; Libertson, Herbert; Yoshida, Susugu (1990). Ukiyo-e: 250 Years of Japanese Art. Studio Editions. ISBN 978-1-85170-620-4. 

External links

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