Eisen Keisai: Itahana (Sold)

Artist: Eisen Keisai
Title: Itahana
Series: “Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido Road” (Kisokaidô rokujûkyû tsugi no uchi)
Date: ca 1830s

One of the most famous designs in this series, and considered one of Eisen’s most successful snow scenes. Six pedestrians and one horseman make their way along a snowy riverbank that is dotted with shapely pine trees, the cold evidenced by the snow that remains on their shoulders. This print is never signed, even in the earliest states. Some scholars think that this work may have been started by Eisen and finished by Hiroshige. This is from the first edition, with the blue on the bridge-crossing travelers’ legs, the early red seals and the shading of the stream that is darkest at the bottom. The sky is gentle pink at the horizon, yet grey above. Both Hiroshige and Eisen designed prints for this series. Even the example shown in Izzard (2008) has the left margin trimmed.

Oban horizontal.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. Slight center fold. Margins added on left and right side.
Publisher: Iseya Rihei (Kinjudô)
Literature: Chiba City Museum of Art, Keisai Eisen (2012), #97; Ukiyo-e shûka 14 (1981), Hiroshige list, p. 246, horizontal ôban #33.15. Izzard (2008), page 44, plate 15.

SKU: EIS035