Portrait of Santo Kyoden, the Master of Kyobashi (Edo hana Kyobashi natori)
c. 1795
Medium
Color woodblock print, oban
Dimensions
38.3 × 25.5 cm (15 1/8 × 10 1/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
20290
Art Historical Context
Step into the vibrant world of Edo-period Japan with *Portrait of Santo Kyoden, the Master of Kyobashi (Edo hana Kyobashi natori)*, a captivating color woodblock print by Rekisentei Eiri, created around 1795. This oban-sized work (38.3 × 25.5 cm) captures the likeness of Santo Kyoden, a celebrated novelist, poet, and illustrator whose witty *kibyoshi* (satirical yellow-backed novels) and *sharebon* (books of urban wit) defined late 18th-century popular literature. Nicknamed the "Master of Kyobashi" after Tokyo's bustling Kyobashi district, Kyoden embodied the playful spirit of Edo's floating w...