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)
Color woodblock print: nagaban tate-e,
20⅜ x 9 in. (51.8 x 22.9 cm); ca. 1833–34
Series: True Mirror of Chinese and Japanese Poems (Shiika shashinkyō)
Signed: Saki no Hokusai Iitsu hitsu
Publisher: Kinshindō (Moriya Jihei)
Amida Waterfall in the Far Reaches of the Kiso Road (Kisoji no oku Amidagataki)
Color woodblock print: ōban tate-e,
15¼ x 10¼ in. (38.7 x 26 cm); ca. 1833
Series: A Tour of the Waterfalls in the Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)
Signed: Saki no Hokusai Iitsu hitsu
Publisher: Eijudō (Nishimuraya Yohachi)
Color woodblock print, nagaban tate-e, (19⅞ x 9⅜ in. 50.5 x 23.8 cm); circa 1833-35
Signature: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga (on the folding fan)
Censor’s seals: kiwame
Publisher: Kinrindō (Moriya Jihei)
Color woodblock print: aiban uchiwa-e, 9¼ x 11⅝ in. (23.5 x 29.5 cm); circa 1830
Series: Three Fashionable Tipplers (Fūzoku san-nin namayoi)
Signed: Gototei Kunisada ga
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)
The Hanging-cloud Bridge at Mount Gyōdō near Ashikaga (Ashikaga Gyōdōzan Kumo no kakehashi)
Color woodblock print: ōban yoko-e, 10¼ x 15⅛ in. (26 x 38.4 cm); late 1833
Series: Remarkable Views of the Bridges in All Provinces (Shokoku meikyō kiran)
Signed: Saki no Hokusai Iitsu hitsu
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Eijudō (Nishimuraya Yohachi
Color woodblock print: ōban yoko-e, 9 x 13⅞ in. (22.9 x 35.2 cm); ca. 1834–35
Series: Eight Views of Ōmi (Ōmi hakkei no uchi)
Signed: Hiroshige ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Hōeidō (Takenouchi Magohachi)
View of the Ommayagashi Embankment in the Eastern Capital (Tōto Ommayagashi no zu)
Color woodblock print: ōban yoko-e, 10½ x 15 in. (26.7 x 38.1 cm); ca. 1835
Untitled series of landscapes
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
Sealed: Toshidama
Publisher: Kinkōdō (Yamaguchiya Tōbei)
March 20 – 27, 2026 Opening Reception: Friday, March 20, 5-7pm Special AWNY Hours: March 20-21 & 23-27, 11am-5pm; March 22, 1-5pm (otherwise by appointment)
We are delighted to present a refined selection of 19th-century Japanese woodblock prints and ukiyo-e paintings during this season’s Asia Week New York. 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.
With over forty years’ experience as an auction-house specialist, appraiser, and dealer in Japanese and Korean art, I formed Sebastian Izzard LLC, a New York company, in 1998 in order to offer the kind of personal expertise, attention, and insights that are especially valuable to discriminating collectors world-wide. As a company we deal in all periods, from early to modern, the principal criterion being one of quality. Regular travel in the United States and overseas, to Japan and Europe, keeps us abreast of the international market and in touch with a global network. We welcome inquiries from clients old and new, whether prompted by an interest in the purchase or sale of works of art, in our exhibitions and catalogues, or in our appraisal and consulting services.
