Shosai Ikkei - Nihonbashi Bridge

Shosai Ikkei

Thirty-six Comic Views of Famous Places in Tokyo - Around 1872, the artist Ikkei did a series parodying Hiroshige's "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo." Using popular settings around Tokyo, he featured people in scenes from everyday life, working and relaxing. Many images incorporate comic accidents or amusing encounters, and some feature foreigners or evidence of the modernization taking place during the Meiji era. Nicely rendered with vibrant color and bokashi shading, these creative scenes provide a modern twist to Hiroshige's classic subjects. 

Little is known about this artist's life.  He was a student of Utagawa Hiroshige III (1842–1894) and was active between 1860 and the late 1870s. He produced meisho-e of a radically changing Tokyo and comic scenes (giga) of Edo Life in the early Meiji Era, such as Comic Scenes of Thirty-six Famous Places in Tokyo (Tōkyō meisho sanjūroku gisen, 1871-1872). His most famous work was the series Forty-Eight Famous Views of Tokyo (Tōkyō meisho shijūhakkei, 1871).

Condition: Print color saturation and overall condition is very good. Margins as shown. No tears or holes. Print is not backed.

Date: 1872

Publisher: Yorozuya Magohei

Dimensions: 36.1 x 24.5 cm

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