Issue 03 12-2019 The 25 Most Important Classical Shunga Artists (Vol. 1) Issue 03 12-2019 The 25 Most The Important Classical Shunga 25 Most Artists (Vol. 1) Important Classical Shunga Artists (Vol. 1) On our forum (will be launched later this year!) and blog you can find much more exciting info about Hokusai. You can also check out other free eBooks in the following section! Issue 03 12-2019 Contents The 25 Most The 25 Most Important Classical Shunga Artists (Vol.1) 7 Important The Kanbun Master (act. c. 1660 - 1673) 9 Classical Shunga Hishikawa Moronobu (1618 - 1694) 11 Artists Sugimura Jihei (c. 1680s - 1705) 13 (Vol. 1) Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671-1750) 15 Torii Kiyonobu (1664-1729) 17 Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764) 19 Tsukioka Settei (1710-1786) 21 Terasawa Masatsugu (?-1790) 23 Suzuki Harunobu (1725?-1770) 25 Isoda Koryusai (1735-1790) 27 Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815) 29 Katsukawa Shunshō (1726-1792) 31 Katsukawa Shunchō (act. c. 1780s-early 1800s) 33 Kitao Masanobu (1761-1816) 35 Mission 37 Copyright © 2019 On our forum (will be launched later this year!) and Design and lay out: Haags Bureau blog you can find First print: december 2019 much more exciting info about Hokusai. You can also No part of this publication may be reproduced and/or check out other published by means of printing, photocopying, microfilm, free eBooks in the scan, electronic copy or in any other way, without prior following section! permission from the author and publisher. Issue 03 12-2019 The 25 Most Important Classical Shunga Artists (Vol. 1) The 25 Most During the heydays of the Edo period when the Yoshiwara was thriving, Important the erotic prints, books and paintings (shunga) were sold like hot cakes. Classical Shunga For that reason many of the great ukiyo-e artists also sought their Artists fortune in this commodity and that’s why shunga made up a fairly large (Vol. 1) part of their oeuvre. But it wasn’t just money that drove them, shunga also gave the option to fully express their creativity because their contribution to this genre was mostly anonymous (they were rarely signed) and shunga was not bound to limited quantity of subjects as with the other ukiyo-e genres. That is why many of them produced their best work in the erotic genre. In this first volume you’ll find 14 of the 25 most important representatives who we think have had the greatest impact on shunga in chronological order (from the early primitive to Meiji era) starting with... Fig. 1. Painting on silk ‘Through a hole on the veranda’ (c.1730s) by an unknown On our forum primitive master (will be launched later this year!) and blog you can find much more exciting info about Hokusai. You can also check out other free eBooks in the following section! 7 Issue 03 12-2019 The Kanbun Master (act. c. 1660 - 1673) The 25 Most The label ‘Kanbun Master’ was first coined by the American critic Important Richard Lane after he found a series of works which spanned the Classical Shunga years 1660 to 1673 and that was distinct from that of Hishikawa Artists Moronobu (his mentor was most probably the Kanbun Master). (Vol. 1) The specific pictorial and graphic style of these unsigned pieces was clearly attributable to a single artist. Although it is also possible that what lies behind this name is in fact a studio of artists, all working in a stylistically constant style. Fig. 2. ‘Geisha and lover (with hand coloring)’ (c.1660) by the Kanbun Master On our forum (will be launched later this year!) and blog you can find much more exciting info about Hokusai. You can also check out other free eBooks in the following section! 9 Issue 03 12-2019 Hishikawa Moronobu (1618 - 1694) The 25 Most Generally considered the first true artist of ukiyo-e and founder Important of the art of the Floating World. Although he was not the first Classical Shunga figure , none of the others possessed his distinguishing style and Artists productivity. He added a smooth and powerful flow to his drawings (Vol. 1) which carry an air of total assurance. His most notable work was produced in the 1680s. While the majority of his shunga is to be found in the illustrated books, some of the most spectacular designs are seen among the series of single-sheet prints. Fig. 3. ‘A man manipulates a dildo tied to a long poll the size of a fishing rod to arouse a girl being restrained by two women’ (c.1700) attributed to Hishikawa Moronobu On our forum (will be launched later this year!) and blog you can find much more exciting info about Hokusai. You can also check out other free eBooks in the following section! 11 Issue 03 12-2019 Sugimura Jihei (c. 1680s - 1705) The 25 Most A chief rival of Moronobu and an independent Edo-based artist. Important Very little is known about Sugimura Jihei except that he was a cousin Classical Shunga of one of the celebrated forty-seven ronin (masterless samurai). Artists Like Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) in Europe he was almost totally (Vol. 1) forgotten for over two centuries. This was mainly because his work was unsigned and at first sight very close to that of Moronobu. Sugimura was a specialist in the erotic. His output was tiny because he was a perfectionist, who would rather stick to what he knew he could do and do it superbly. Fig. 4. ‘Young male lover moves the kimono of a sleeping beauty (with applied hand On our forum coloring)’ (c.1680) by Sugimura Jihei (will be launched later this year!) and blog you can find much more exciting info about Hokusai. You can also check out other free eBooks in the following section! 13 Issue 03 12-2019 Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671-1750) The 25 Most He is by far considered the greatest ukiyo-e artist coming from Important the Kamigata area (Kyoto and Osaka). His extraordinary mastery in Classical Shunga portraying the female figure meant that he was in great demand for Artists shunga illustrations. Sukenobu’s both erotic and non-erotic works (Vol. 1) expose his stylistic qualities. Into his figures, particularly those of women, he infused a refinement of features, and a sense of grandeur in the expressions and gestures. He influenced all the great ukiyo-e masters of later generations from Harunobu to Utamaro, from Okumura Masanobu to Chobunsai Eishi down to the later phases of the work by Hokusai. Fig. 5. On our forum ‘Peeking girl using a hilt to pleasure herself’ (c.1717) by Nishikawa Sukenobu (will be launched later this year!) and blog you can find much more exciting info about Hokusai. You can also check out other free eBooks in the following section! 15 Issue 03 12-2019 Torii Kiyonobu (1664-1729) The 25 Most Founder of the important Torii school and most probably the son Important of Torii Kiyomoto, a kabuki actor from Osaka who was specialized Classical Shunga in female roles. Kiyonobu’s earlier works are believed to have been Artists book illustrations and theater playbills (kanban), which remained the (Vol. 1) most popular activity at the school he founded. His contributions to shunga are the great albums (in both oban and aiban formats) which he produced in the decade following 1700. In these series of prints he demonstrates a voluptuous urgency which matches, and occasionally even surpasses Sugimura. Kiyonobu introduced a fullness of face and a heavy fleshiness of body into his drawing which is not to everyone’s taste. Fig. 6. On our forum ‘Intimate couple and servant’ (c.1690s) Attributed to Torii Kiyonobu (c.1664–1729) (will be launched later this year!) and blog you can find much more exciting info about Hokusai. You can also check out other free eBooks in the following section! 17 Issue 03 12-2019 Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764) The 25 Most Started as a pupil of the Torii school at an early age. He was already Important designing prints at the age of fifteen and publishing shunga by the Classical Shunga age of seventeen – and continued to the end of his life. Masanobu was Artists also a versatile entrepreneur who published and distributed prints and (Vol. 1) illustrated books. He used specific formats: very large prints (o-oban), which served as hanging paintings (kakemono), but also long and narrow ones (tanzaku). Masanobu’s shunga masterpiece ‘[Mountain of Dyed Colours] Patterns of the Bedrooms’ and was made around 1740. He was also the inventor of the hashira-e (pillar print) and uki-e as well as being at the forefront of advancements in colour printing. Fig. 7. On our forum ‘Shows a young monk copulating with a beauty in the vicinity of a temple’ (c.1739) (will be launched from the series ‘Someiro no yama neya no hinagata, [Mountain of Dyed Colours] later this year!) and blog you can find Patterns of the Bedrooms’ by Okumura Masanobu much more exciting info about Hokusai. You can also check out other free eBooks in the following section! 19 Issue 03 12-2019 Tsukioka Settei (1710-1786) The 25 Most An artist who lived and worked mainly in Osaka. Together with Important Sukenobu he is considered to be the leading artist of the Floating Classical Shunga World in Kamigata, a region that included Kyoto and Osaka. Settei had Artists a classical training at the Kano school and was partly influenced by (Vol. 1) Moronobu’s style. His own style moved toward a less forceful expression than that of the earlier Edo masters.