Keisai Eisen

Eisen began by studying the Kano and Tosa styles before becoming a pupil of Eizan. He specialised in depictions of beautiful women. Between 1837 and 1842 he also assisted Hiroshige (1797-1858) with his series Kiso Kaido (the 69 stages of the great east-west route through the central mountains). Eisen designed 24 of the 69 prints in this collection. Among them, The Nojiri Falls contrasts the torrent and the rocks drawn very prominently in the foreground and in the distance a landscape of blue or grey mountains with an imaginary Fuji lost in the mists. It could be said that the foreground is Hokusai and the background, just as the small figures suggest, is Hiroshige. These references for this particular instance place the work of Eisen within its scope.

"EISEN." In Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford Art Online, http://www.oxfordartonline.com.proxy.lib.fsu.edu/subscriber/article/benezit/B00058103 (accessed May 3, 2012).