Original Woodblock Kikukawa Eizan "Evening Snow at Ueno" - Japan

Beautiful Original Japanese Woodblock Print Kikukawa Eizan -  Eight Famous Places and Beauties of Edo : Evening Snow at Ueno  - XIX Century

Size: Height 36cm, width 25cm

Object literature: Kikukawa Eizan (1787 – 1867) was a designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. Kikukawa Eizan was the most prolific, longest-lived and ultimately the best of those late followers of Utamaro who attempted to carry on the master's bijin style after his death in 1806. Eizan was strongly influenced by Utamaro and Hokusai. Utamaro's impact is especially seen in his design of beautiful women, created Eight Famous Places and Beauties of Edo : Evening Snow at Ueno between the late 1880's and 1829. As Eizan reached artistic maturity he began to develop his own figural style, still focused for the most part on prints of beautiful women (bijin-ga). Eizan's work retains the sensitivities and lyricism that marks the Utamaro style, as opposed to the earthier realism and more overt sensuality of Kunisada and Keisai Eisen. With Kikukawa Eizan, the alchemy of elegance is still alive, and in his best work, properly produced, he can cast a magic glow over the forms of the world and create lightness and grace.

Object History: Ex Lyon & Turnbull, previously from  the collection of Arthur Halcrow Verstage. Arthur Halcrow Verstage (1875-1969) was an architect who spent much of his career in the public sector. He was a student at the Royal Academy School of Architecture in the 1900s and was elected as an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1902. By 1903 he was a student and assistant at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (later known as the Central School of Art and Design) in London where William Lethaby was principal and a great influence on him. He then oversaw the design of the new school in Southampton Row from 1905-8. From here he became an architect for London County Council and was involved with many London societies, and as a founding member of the Kelmscott Fellowship, a forerunner to The William Morris Society. His large and varied collection was a reflection of his wide interest in the arts. His archive was purchased by The William Morris Society in 2005.