Nishimura Shigenaga (Japanese: 西村 重長; c. 1697 – 23 July 1756) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist.

Shigenaga was born c. 1697 in Edo (modern Tokyo).[1] He worked as a landlord in Tōriabura-chō[2] before moving to the Kanda district, where he ran a bookshop and taught himself art;[1] he is not known to have had a teacher.[3] His work began to appear c. 1719. He worked in a variety of genres and formats.[1] His earlier work tended to be yakusha-e portraits of kabuki actors in the style of the Torii school; his later work is in an idiom more his own, incorporating the influence of Okumura Masanobu and Nishikawa Sukenobu.[2] Other genres he worked in include landscapes, kachō-e pictures of scenes of nature, and historical scenes.[3] He made a number of uki-e "floating pictures" incorporating geometric perspective. The number of uki-e he produced was second only to Masanobu, who asserted himself the originator of the technique.[4]

Shigenaga's better-known work includes the series Fifty-four Sheets of Genji, a collaborative series with Torii Kiyomasu II in c. 1730–35; and the Picture Book of Edo Souvenirs in 1753.[1] He produced some of the earliest ukiyo-e landscape prints; in 1727, his was the first set of prints of Lake Biwa.[5] His work had a strong influence on later artists such as Suzuki Harunobu and Ishikawa Toyonobu,[1] who may have been students of Shigenaga's;[6] Toyonobu may have been Nishimura Shigenobu, Shigenaga's most prominent student.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Marks 2012, p. 38.
  2. ^ a b c Michener 1954, p. 396.
  3. ^ a b Japan Ukiyo-e Association 1982, p. 70.
  4. ^ Japan Ukiyo-e Association 1982, p. 72.
  5. ^ King 2010, p. 45.
  6. ^ Marks 2012, p. 38; Michener 1954, p. 396.

Works cited

  • Japan Ukiyo-e Association (1982). Genshoku Ukiyo-e Dai-Hyakka Jiten 原色 浮世絵大百科事典 第６巻 [Original Colour Grand Ukiyo-e Encyclopaedia]. Vol. 6. Taishūkan Publishing.
  • King, James (2010). Beyond the Great Wave: The Japanese Landscape Print, 1727–1960. Peter Lang. ISBN 978-3-0343-0317-0.
  • Marks, Andreas (2012). Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks: 1680–1900. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4629-0599-7.
  • Michener, James Albert (1954). The Floating World. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-0873-0.

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