March 2026

Japanese Paintings and Prints, 1800–1860

March 20–27, 2026
11 AM to 5 PM or by appointment

17 East 76th Street, 3rd Floor,
New York, NY 10021

Tel: 212-794-1522
Email: info@izzardasianart.com

Japanese Paintings and Prints, 1800–1860

The prints and paintings in this exhibition date from the first decade of the nineteenth century until the conclusion of the Edo period. Included are works that demonstrate the range and quality of ukiyo‌-‌e made at this time.

In the nineteenth century ukiyo‌-‌e artists were organized into two main schools, the Katsushika and the Utagawa, but as the century progressed the fortunes of the Katsushika rose during the Tenpō period and then faded after the death of Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), their leader, in 1849. Hokusai and his students specialized in surimono and book illustration in the first decades of the nineteenth century. It was only in 1830, when faced with a family crisis, that the artist returned to commercial printmaking, with spectacular results. These works are represented here by the some of his more interesting prints from this period. The better organized Utagawa school came to dominate the field by the end of our purview. Their stock in trade were images of actors and beautiful women, but they also turned to other areas including landscapes, and illustrating classics of Japanese and Chinese poetry and literature, which were now simplified, annotated, and modernized by astute authors and their artist collaborators. Figures such as Genji, the “shining prince” of Murasaki Shikibu’s tenth century novel and poets such as the Heian courtier Ariwara no Yukihira, were reimagined in amusing, irreverent and inspiring ways. Chinese-inflected bird-and-flower prints also became popular, as did both Chinese and Japanese themes for warrior prints.

Landscapes are the crowning achievement of this era and are fully represented in this exhibition. Landscape prints were first published in the eighteenth century but in the early nineteenth century the market was stimulated by the emergence of a leisure travel industry centered on pilgrimages. Tours of far-off shrines and temples required expertise in how to navigate the problems that might be encountered on the way, which in turn created a flourishing market in travel guides describing post-stations, local beauty-spots, and other famous places. This literature not only gave artists such as Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) and their peers a receptive market, it also provided them recondite local information and descriptions of topography that they could employ to enliven their designs. Patrons of the artists could enjoy escapist tourism vicariously, without the upheaval and discomfort that actual travel might incur. Landscapes never went out of fashion and could be repeatedly printed until the blocks wore out. Collectors are therefore cautioned to seek out only the finest impressions available.

KUBO SHUNMAN (1757–1820)

Warbler Hidden in Flowering Plum Branches

Color woodblock print: shikishiban surimono,
8⅛ x 7¼ in. (20.6 x 18.4 cm); ca. 1818
Sealed: Shosadō (studio seal of Kubo Shunman)
Issued by the Yomogawa (Four Directions Group)
Poems signed: Gurendō and Kyōkadō (Yomo no Magao)

UTAGAWA TOYOKUNI (1769–1825)

Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Kamakura Gongen Kagemasa Bursting Through a Paper Screen

Color woodblock print: shikishiban surimono,
8¼ x 7¼ in. (20.6 x 17.8 cm); ca. 1818
Signed: Toyokuni ga

UTAGAWA KUNISADA (1786–1865)

Housewife Shaving Her Eyebrows

Color woodblock print: ōban tate-e,
15⅝ x 10¼ in. (39.7 x 26.0 cm); ca. 1822−23
Series: Modern Style Makeup Mirrors (Imafu keshō kagami)
Signed: Gototei Kunisada ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Kinshūdō (Azumaya Daisuke)

KEISAI EISEN (1790–1848)

Beauty Sharing a Pipe

Color woodblock print: ōban tate-e,
15½ x 10½ in. (39.4 x 26.7 cm); Bunsei era, ca. 1823
Series: Comparison of Fashionable Beauties of the Floating World (Ukiyo fuzoku bijo kurabe)
Signed: Keisai Eisen ga
Publisher: Jakurindō (Wakasaya Yōichi)
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)

YASHIMA GAKUTEI (1786–1868)

Crabs at the Water’s Edge

Color woodblock print: shikishiban surimono,
8 x 7⅜ in. (20.3 x 18.7 cm); ca. 1830
Signed: Gakutei
Issued by the atsushika-ren (Katsushika Circle)
Poems signed: Shichidaime Sanshō (Ichikawa Danjūrō VII) and Bunbunsha (Bunbunsha Kanikomaru)
Provenance: Henri Vever (no seal)