36 views of Edo by Hiroshige’s pupil - Shosai Ikkei - c1871

Complete album of 36 woodblock prints of Edo by Hiroshige’s pupil - Shosai Ikkei

36 Views of Edo (東京三十六景/Tōkyō sanjūrokukei)  

Published c1871 by Tsutaya Kichizō

Album 17.5 x 12cm approx

Complete album of 36 Chuban prints (each 17.5 x 23 cm) bound in an accordion album with original covers. Modern protective album case.

Near Fine condition – some marks to images and bleeding to inks. Images backed in album.

The influence of Hiroshige’s “100 famous views of Edo” can clearly be seen in many of the images in this series by Shosai Ikkei. The series was produced by a publisher of Hiroshige’s works, Tsutaya kichizō, who would have wanted to try and continue the success of Hiroshige’s prints. For example, Ikkei’s image of Eitai bridge and Suruga-Chō (the main street in the district closest to Mount Fuji) are very clearly influenced by Hiroshige’s images in composition, colouring and style. However, the Western influence of the Meiji era is starting to appear in Ikkei’s prints and people in Western dress can be seen on many of the compositions in this smaller format Chuban series.

Shosai Ikkei is documented as being a student of Hiroshige III, although little else is known about his life. He was active in the 1860s and 1870s and is best known for producing images which portrayed the rapidly changing scenes of westernization and Industrialisation in Japan.

A pleasing complete set of 36 images in an original album