Iso­da KORYŪSAI (1735–1790) comes from a samu­rai clan. After the death of his feu­dal prince in 1768 he set­tled as an aban­doned samu­rai ( rōnin) set­tled in Edo and devot­ed him­self to the art of ukiyo‑e (Images of the flow­ing world). Koryū­sai was active in the peri­od from 1760 to 1789. In the first years of his cre­ative peri­od he cre­at­ed many depic­tions of beau­ti­ful women ( bijin-ga ) in the style of Suzu­ki Harunobus (around 1725–1770). After Harunobu’s death, Koryū­sai was rec­og­nized for his own com­plete­ly inde­pen­dent style of depict­ing beau­ti­ful women, his post pic­tures ( hashira- e), its large-for­mat fash­ion leaves and its out­stand­ing flower and bird pic­tures. His style is char­ac­ter­ized by the empha­sis on the robes, artis­tic hair­styles and a pow­er­ful draw­ing of the fig­ures on an emp­ty ground. Of all the Japan­ese wood­cut artists, Koryū­sai designed most of the post pic­tures with which the wood­en pil­lars of the hous­es were adorned.

Iso­da KORYŪSAI (1735–1790) comes from a samu­rai clan. After the death of his feu­dal prince in 1768 he set­tled as an aban­doned samu­rai ( rōnin) set­tled in Edo and devot­ed him­self to the art of ukiyo‑e (Images of the flow­ing world). Koryū­sai was active in the peri­od from 1760 to 1789. In the first years of his cre­ative peri­od he cre­at­ed many depic­tions of beau­ti­ful women ( bijin-ga ) in the style of Suzu­ki Harunobus (around 1725–1770). After Harunobu’s death, Koryū­sai was rec­og­nized for his own com­plete­ly inde­pen­dent style of depict­ing beau­ti­ful women, his post pic­tures ( hashira- e), its large-for­mat fash­ion leaves and its out­stand­ing flower and bird pic­tures. His style is char­ac­ter­ized by the empha­sis on the robes, artis­tic hair­styles and a pow­er­ful draw­ing of the fig­ures on an emp­ty ground. Of all the Japan­ese wood­cut artists, Koryū­sai designed most of the post pic­tures with which the wood­en pil­lars of the hous­es were adorned.


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