17251770, active 17601770. Born in Edo, where he also worked, Harunobu was one of the leading print artists of his time. He played a major role in the development of nishiki-e, the polychrome print. He is said to have studied under Shigenaga, but his early prints, mostly bijin-ga and yakusha-e, are more similar in style to those of the Torii masters Kiyomitsu and Kiyotsune. The strongest influence during his early years came from the Kyoto master Sukenobu, along with Kiyomitsu, Toyonobu and the ukiyo-e painters of the Kawamata school. His study of the principles and methods of the Kano school and of such 16thcentury Chinese genre painters as Ch'iu Ying and T'ang Yin is also reflected in his work. In about 1762 Harunobu finally arrived at a style of his own, which from then on exercised a decisive influence on ukiyo-e painting generally. He is the archetypal painter ofbijinga portraits. He presents ladies of the demimonde, middle-class women going about their everyday tasks, and women in mythological scenes, all executed in elegant colour and well-differentiated technique. In 1764 he was commissioned to design pictures for calendars, which were later brought out by the publisher Shokakudo. The impetus for the wider distribution of these early nishiki-e came from clubs of intellectuals, poets and artists in Edo. Harunobu, appointed the intellectual leader of one such club, was asked to design New Year's and other congratulatory cards, so-called e-goyomi. For club members, aesthetically demanding as they were, no price was too high. Costly materials were used, and by 1765 the polychrome print was in full flower. Instead of just two or three colours, the whole range of the artists palette was now available. Harunobu also painted erotic scenes, and he liked to have such celebrated beauties as O-Sen and O-Fuji sit for him. 1787—1867. An ukiyo-e painter and print artist, he worked at first for his father, and then studied under Nanrei and Hokkei. He was influenced by Utamaro and Hokusai. During a period which was witnessing the manifest artistic decline of ukiyo-e, a period without firstrate artists or critics, Eizan, along with Toyokuni, was among the leading exponents of bijin-ga. His motifs were primarily standing female figures in a tranquil atmosphere.
From Hillier J., Japanese Colour Prints, Phaidon, 3rd edn,1993