Nishikawa Sukenobu
Sukenobu (1671-1751) was one of the leading artists and book illustrators of Kyoto. His influence was great, not only in the Kamigata district but in Edo as well. He died in the first year of Höreki (1751) at the age of eighty-one and his grave is said to be at Nishi-myösen-ji (temple) in Kyoto. Sukenobu, whose family names were Fujiwara and Nishikawa, used several pseudonyms, too numerous for comment here. Tradition has it that he mastered both Kanö and Tosa art and combined this background with the freer styles of Yoshida Hambei of Kyoto and Hishikawa Moronobu of Edo to produce a style of his own. Little of these influences can really be detected in his art. Although his signed book illustrations do not appear until 1708, and then only sporadically, several earlier attributions in the late 1690s of unsigned Kyogen-bon and Hachimonjiya-bon generally are accepted as his.
Sukenobu was a prolific book illustrator and produced a large number of titles, amounting to over two hundred volumes from 1708 until the close of his career (WTH). Despite statements to the contrary, no legitimate signed single sheets are known to be extant. He produced some fine erotica, but his main interest was in pure "fuzoku," especially courtesans and their daily life.
Throughout his long career he maintained a very high standard and consistency of style that can best be described as refined and soft. Later artists rifled his books for themes as well as for compositions and methods of style. This was particularly true of Harunobu, who, according to the recent research of Yohikazu Hayashi, was actually a pupil of Sukenobu. His illustrations also influenced such prominent "ukiyo-e" artists as Masanobu, Shigemasa, Toyonobu, and Kiyonaga.
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DETAILED DISCUSSION: All the sources dealing with the life of Nishikawa Sukenobu need to be re-examined and re-evaluated. Our comments here will therefore be brief and perfunctory.
According to the "Karaku kofun" (date not known to author) our artist died in 1751 at the age of 74. This death date is not confirmed however. Indeed, the preface to the picture book, "Ehon shinobu-gusa," dated in the colophon to 1750, says that Sukenobu was 79, making it impossible without the additional information to resolve the discrepancy and ascertain his exact date of birth.
We know that Sukenobu used many art names and several personal names. His "go" (studio name) include Jitokusai or Jitokusö and Rakuyo Bunkadö. His personal name was Yüsuke and later Yükyö. A Kyoto artist who possibly never saw the boom town of Edo, he was steeped in the foundations of classical learning and that indefinable Kyoto love of quiet beauty. It is said that he studied the traditional methods of painting under Kanö Einö and Tosa Mitsusuki.
It wasn't until his late twenties, around the year 1698 according to Dr. Richard Lane, that he turned to book illustrations, either for novels or just plain picture books. He was very prolific, exceeding that of Hishikawa Moronobu with a total output of some two hundred books containing many thousands of illustrations. Throughout a remarkably high level was maintained.
Sukenobu was partial to processional pictures; was a master of foreshortening; often drew solitary figures of women; drew the nude with considerable skill; was a master of the genre "shunga" (erotica), although this album art is exceedingly rare, and never produced a print that was not first rate. No matter what the subject might be, his perpetual theme was Japanese girlhood. In the hands of a lesser artist, his depictions might have become tedious, but he never allowed his work to fall into mere repetition. Part of his success lay in his pure line as well as his casual compositions. His gracious execution and gentle observation of life in Kyoto has given history a charming record of one of Japan's golden periods. It has provided later artists with a mine of marvelous ideas and compositions for new illustrations. Both Suzuki Harunobu and Torii Kiyonaga were greatly influenced by this gentle illustrator from Kyoto.
Research by: Howard A. Link.
