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Keisai Eisen (1790–1848)
Playright. Student painter. Face powder salesman. Bon Vivant. Brothel owner.
Born in 1790, Keisai Eisen lived 58 years, but in those decades inhabited many lives. Naturally, he is remembered most as an artist of the Floating World, with a specialty of portraying beautiful women, but with an undeniable talent at landscapes. He was born in Edo, the son of a noted calligrapher. 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 after making a living in several other realms.
He also developed a talent for privately-printed, small-scale surimono prints. His most famous landscape series was the The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido, a project that he began but which was completed by Hiroshige, his junior, after his own work habits became erratic. His bijin-ga appeared more worldly and sensuous than those drawn by his predecessors, who had perhaps imbued them with too much stuffy elegance. Not Eisen’s. He died in 1848.