Eisen was born in
Edo into the Ikeda family, the son of a noted
calligrapher. He was apprenticed to
Kanō Hakkeisai, from whom he took the name Keisai, and after the death of his father he studied under
Kikukawa Eizan. His initial works reflected the influence of his mentor, but he soon developed his own style. He produced a number of
surimono (prints that were privately issued),
erotic prints, and landscapes, including
The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō, which he started and which was completed by
Hiroshige. Eisen is most renowned for his
bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) which portrayed the subjects as more worldly than those depicted by earlier artists, replacing their grace and elegance with a less studied sensuality. He produced many portraits and full-length studies depicting the fashions of the time. In addition to producing a prolific number of prints, he was a writer, producing biographies of the
Forty-seven Ronin and several books, including a continuation of the
Ukiyo-e Ruiko (
History of Prints of the Floating World), a book which documented the lives of the
ukiyo-e artists. His supplement is known as "Notes of a Nameless Old Man." He describes himself as a dissolute hard-drinker and claims to have been the owner of a brothel in Nezu in the 1830s which had burned down. ==Gallery==