Three centuries of images of the floating world
Top 50 ukiyo-e masters
From Moronobu to Yoshitoshi, fifty artists who have made theater, travel, Edo beauties, warriors and even cats an inexhaustible visual universe. Hokusai leads the way; he would probably have contested the classification, then drawn the dispute.
Ukiyo-eliterally "images of the floating world", tells the story of Japanese urban culture from the Edo period to the upheavals of Meiji. It is born in collective workshops where designer, engraver, printer and publisher transform an idea into sheets accessible to a wide audience.
This journey follows the founders of the printed image, the invention of color, the golden age of actors and beauties, the landscape revolution and then the opening of Japan. Each master appears with a representative work, entirely visible and linked to his exact file.
Katsushika School
Katsushika Hokusai
1760 -1849 · Edo period
The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Author of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, Hokusai made landscape a popular subject across Japan. The Great Wave has become his emblem, but his mangas, illustrated books and nature studies reveal a curiosity that is almost impossible to categorize.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Hiroshige
1797 -1858 · Edo period
Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge and Atake
With The Fifty-three Stations of Tokaido and the Hundred Famous Views of Edo, Hiroshige transformed road, rain and snow into sensitive experiences. Van Gogh copied some of his compositions: the journey between Edo and Europe was faster than stagecoaches.
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Kitagawa School
Kitagawa Utamaro
around 1753 -1806 · Edo period
Three Beauties of the Present Day
Utamaro renewed the bijin-ga with close-up portraits where a tilt of the head or a busy hand is enough to characterize the model. His mica backgrounds and bold framing give the beauties of Edo a presence that is both worldly and deeply individual.
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Independent artist
Toshusai Sharaku
active in 1794 -1795 · Edo period
Otani Oniji III as Yakko Edobei
Sharaku appeared in print history for less than a year, producing portraits of kabuki actors of unparalleled intensity. He flatters neither their features nor their roles: his actors grimace, calculate and almost sweat beneath their makeup.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Kuniyoshi
1798 -1861 · Edo period
The Earth Spider Conjures Demons before Minamoto no Yorimitsu
Warriors, cats, ghosts and caricatures make Kuniyoshi the great visual inventor of the end of Edo. Censorship constraints stimulated his taste for diversion; when a subject became forbidden, he sometimes returned disguised as a fish or a feline.
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Independent artist
Suzuki Harunobu
around 1725 -1770 · Edo period
Lovers reading a letter under the snow
Harunobu is closely associated with the rise of nishiki-e, polychrome prints made using several woodblocks. His elegant young figures inhabit a delicate world where weather, poems and glances say more than action.
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Torii School
Torii Kiyonaga
1752 -1815 · Edo period
Women in public baths
Kiyonaga elongated figures and arranged his scenes across remarkably clear diptychs and triptychs. His groups of strolling women evoke Edo’s urban life, while his inheritance of the Torii school preserves a strong connection with kabuki theater.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Toyokuni I
1769 -1825 · Edo period
Poet Ono no Komachi in the rain
Toyokuni gave the Utagawa school immense prestige in actor portraits and bijin-ga. His studio notably trained Kunisada and Kuniyoshi: better successors are hard to imagine for someone already depicting the stars of his time.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Kunisada
1786 -1865 · Edo period
The Demon Cat Nekomata at the theater
Kunisada was probably the most prolific print designer of 19th century Japan. His actors, courtesans and literary illustrations accompanied Edo's cultural news with the efficiency of a large image studio.
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Utagawa School
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
1839 -1892 · Bakumatsu and Meiji
The Lonely House on the Moor of Adachi
The last great master of traditional ukiyo-e, Yoshitoshi went through civil wars, modernization and the arrival of photography. His Hundred Aspects of the Moon combine classic narrative, suspense and radical compositions without reducing his work to the bloody scenes that made his reputation.
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Hishikawa School
Hishikawa Moronobu
circa 1618 -1694 · Beginning of the Edo period
Beauty Looking Back
Moronobu helped establish ukiyo-e as an independent visual language, disseminated through books and prints. His supple lines capture Edo’s urban pleasures at a time when printmaking remained chiefly monochrome.
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Katsukawa School
Katsukawa Shunsho
1726 -1793 · Edo period
Nakamura Nakazo I lifting a column
Shunsho broke with the conventional faces of theater to make the actors recognizable. Founder of the Katsukawa school, he was also one of the masters of the young Hokusai, who then signed Shunro.
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Kikukawa School
Keisai Eisen
1790 -1848 · Edo period
Nihonbashi in Edo
Eisen gave the beauties of Edo a more sensual, sometimes deliberately nervous elegance. He also designed landscapes and participated in the Sixty-nine Stations of Kiso Kaidô, completed with Hiroshige.
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Independent artist
Kobayashi Kiyochika
1847 -1915 · Meiji period
Shinobazu Pond
Kiyochika observed Tokyo as gas, bricks and locomotives transformed the city. His kôsen-ga, images based on the effects of light and shadow, bring Japanese printmaking and Western gaze into dialogue.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Toyoharu
1735 -1814 · Edo period
Perspective view of a pleasure district
Founder of the Utagawa School, Toyoharu experimented with Western perspective in urban views called uki-e. His deep spaces opened a path that his artistic descendants would populate for more than a century.
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Kitao School
Kitao Shigemasa
1739 -1820 · Edo period
Geisha and Attendant Carrying a Shamisen
Shigemasa was a refined designer of beauty and a sought-after book illustrator. His art makes the link between the grace of Harunobu and the great, more assertive figures of Kiyonaga and Utamaro.
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Okumura School
Okumura Masanobu
1686 -1764 · Edo period
Ebisu and a courtesan
Masanobu was an artist, publisher and experimenter. He claimed innovations in two-color printing and used perspective to turn theaters and interiors into deep spaces.
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Independent artist
Isoda Koryusai
1735 - around 1790 · Edo period
Mother preparing snow rabbit eyes
Koryūsai succeeded Harunobu in the world of bijin-ga, developing taller formats and figures with greater presence. His extensive series Models for Fashion: New Designs as Fresh as Young Leaves documents Yoshiwara’s world precisely.
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Utagawa School
Toyohara Chikanobu
1838 -1912 · Meiji period
Young woman from the Meiji era
Chikanobu painted both the battles of the imperial restoration and the ladies of the Meiji court. His triptychs show how ukiyo-e knew how to absorb uniforms, modern architecture and new customs without losing its sense of spectacle.
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Utagawa School
Toyohara Kunichika
1835 -1900 · Bakumatsu and Meiji
Kabuki Actors in a Triptych
Kunichika remained faithful to kabuki while Tokyo modernized at full speed. His large actor faces, saturated with bold colors, retain the energy of the stage even in triptych formats.
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Nishikawa School
Nishikawa Sukenobu
1671 -1750 · Edo period
Two women in Ehon Asakayama
Active in Kyoto, Sukenobu gave women of all conditions a central place in his illustrated albums. His elegant line lastingly influenced bijin-ga, beyond the editorial world of Kansai.
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Torii School
Torii Kiyonobu I
1664 -1729 · Edo period
Courtesan painting a screen
Kiyonobu established the Torii school’s vigorous style, closely connected with kabuki posters and portraits. His powerfully limbed actors seem to carry the stage’s physical expressiveness onto paper.
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Kaigetsudo School
Kaigetsudo Ando
active around 1700 -1714 · Edo period
Standing courtesan with fern kimono
Ando is the founder to whom we connect the great standing beauties of the Kaigetsudô school. The imposing kimonos, the controlled line and the repeated poses transform fashion into real architecture.
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Miyagawa School
Miyagawa Choshun
1683 -1753 · Edo period
Courtesan walking in the snow
Chōshun favored painting on scrolls and screens over printmaking, while remaining a major ukiyo-e figure. His scenes of pleasure stand out for rich color and fluid observation of groups.
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Ishikawa School
Ishikawa Toyonobu
1711 -1785 · Edo period
Beauty holding a firefly cage
Toyonobu excelled in benizuri-e, prints printed notably in pink and green before full polychromy. His couples and actors often occupy long narrow sheets with unexpected monumentality.
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Katsukawa School
Katsukawa Shun'ei
1762 -1819 · Edo period
Watonai mastering a tiger
Shun’ei continued Shunshō’s pursuit of likeness in actor portraits. He also depicted sumo wrestlers and warriors, giving the body an immediate, solid presence.
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Katsukawa School
Katsukawa Shunko
1743 -1812 · Edo period
Matsumoto Kôshiro IV as Tsurunosuke
Shunkō pioneered bust-length actor portraits, a framing that suddenly brings audiences closer to the stage. His individualized faces anticipate Sharaku’s striking experiments.
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Independent artist
Ippitsusai Buncho
active around 1755 -1790 · Edo period
Portrait of a kabuki actor
Bunchô shared with Shunshô the ambition to differentiate the actors instead of repeating a generic type. His compact portraits combine graphic elegance and subtle physiognomic clues.
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Torii School
Torii Kiyomitsu I
1735 -1785 · Edo period
Two samurai
Kiyomitsu led the Torii school in the mid-18th century and refined its theatrical language. His two or three color prints retain the vigor of the lineage while seeking more grace.
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Torii School
Torii Kiyomasu I
active around 1697 -1722 · Edo period
Ichikawa Danjûro I in Takenuki Gorô
Kiyomasu belongs to the first generation of kabuki image makers. Thick contours, heroic poses and hand-applied colors give his actors the direct force of a poster.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Toyokuni II
1777 -1835 · Edo period
Atami at sunset
Following Toyokuni’s tradition, he used several names, which rarely pleases museum cataloguers. His beauties and actors nevertheless mark an important transition between the first Utagawa generation and Kunisada’s visual empire.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Hiroshige II
1826 -1869 · End of Edo period
Harvesting iwatake mushrooms in Kumano
A student and then son-in-law of Hiroshige, he took up the master's name after his death. His landscapes extend the family heritage while introducing brighter colors and compositions adapted to the taste of the end of Edo.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Hiroshige III
1842 -1894 · Meiji period
The Bustle of Prosperity in Tokyo
Hiroshige III applied the prestigious name to the stations, metal bridges and buildings of the new Tokyo. His prints record a sometimes confusing modernization with the colorful optimism of an urban report.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Sadahide
1807 - around 1879 · Bakumatsu and Meiji
Battle of Dan-no-ura
Sadahide is famous for his panoramic views and images of Yokohama open to foreigners. Ships, costumes and goods from elsewhere become the great spectacle of Japanese curiosity.
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Utagawa School
Ochiai Yoshiiku
1833 -1904 · Bakumatsu and Meiji
Abe no Yasuna and the fox Kuzunoha
A student of Kuniyoshi and rival of Yoshitoshi, Yoshiiku worked for theater, satire and the first illustrated newspapers. His career shows how the printmaker gradually became an actor in the modern press.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Yoshikazu
active around 1850 -1870 · Bakumatsu and Meiji
The Arrival and Departure of an American Steamship
Yoshikazu participated in the popularity of Yokohama-e dedicated to foreigners and newly opened ports. His images combine observation, imagination and amusing errors: the outside world often arrived faster than the exact information.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Yoshitora
active around 1836 -1887 · Bakumatsu and Meiji
Great Battle of Kawanakajima
Yoshitora approached warriors, actors and foreign scenes with a pronounced taste for action. His views of Yokohama today constitute valuable documents on the way Edo imagined globalization.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Yoshifuji
1828 -1887 · Edo and Meiji period
Ushiwakamaru and Benkei on the Gojo Bridge
Yoshifuji specialized in toy prints, cutouts and composite images, to the point of being nicknamed the master of omocha-e. Beneath their apparent lightness, his creations demonstrate remarkable graphic intelligence.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Kunisada II
1823 -1880 · End of Edo period
Iwai Hanshiro as Koaki
Student and son-in-law of Kunisada, he successively took several names from the workshop. His illustrations of novels and his portraits of actors extend a Utagawa language that has already become a true cultural brand.
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Katsushika School
Totoya Hokkei
1780 -1850 · Edo period
Poet on horseback approaching a bridge
A pupil of Hokusai, Hokkei excelled in surimono, luxurious prints commissioned in small editions by poetry circles. Embossing, metallic pigments and literary allusions reward close attention.
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Katsushika School
Teisai Hokuba
1771 -1844 · Edo period
Two women writing
Hokuba was one of Hokusai's first and most loyal students. He distinguished himself in portraits of women and surimono, with a calmer elegance than his master's spectacular landscapes.
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Katsushika School
Shotei Hokuju
active around 1789 -1818 · Edo period
Panoramic view of Matsusaki
Hokuju experimented with landscapes with westernizing perspectives, geometric mountains and very deep horizons. His views seem familiar and strange at the same time, like Edo dreamed of by a surveyor.
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Katsukawa School
Kubo Shunman
1757 -1820 · Edo period
Butterfly surimono
Shunman was a painter, poet and great designer of surimono. When regulations limited overly luxurious colors, he responded with subtle gray harmonies that made constraint an elegance.
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Kikukawa School
Kikukawa Eizan
1787 -1867 · Edo period
Evening glow in Ryôgoku
After Utamaro's death, Eizan resumed and softened his model of feminine beauty. His figures with elaborate kimonos dominated the bijin-ga for a time before his student Eisen accentuated its sensuality.
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Kitagawa School
Kitagawa Tsukimaro
active around 1789 -1830 · Edo period
Seated beauty
A student of Utamaro, Tsukimaro moved from print to painting and modified his signature several times. His beauties retain the finesse of the Kitagawa school while adopting a more peaceful presence.
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Torii School
Torii Kiyomine
1787 -1868 · Edo period
Women and children at New Year
Kiyomine ensured the continuity of the Torii school in the 19th century, between portraits of actors and elegant female figures. His work shows that a graphic dynasty could evolve without abandoning its theatrical function.
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Katsukawa School
Katsukawa Shuncho
active around 1780 -1801 · Edo period
Beauties admiring cherry trees
Shunchô largely abandoned the actors for beauties, walks and group scenes. His clear-lined diptychs and triptychs directly dialogue with the monumental elegance of Kiyonaga.
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Torii School
Torii Kiyotsune
active around 1757 -1779 · Edo period
Interior of a kabuki theater
Kiyotsune worked primarily for the world of kabuki, producing portraits and illustrated programs. His compact style maintains the immediate readability necessary for an image intended for theater spectators.
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Kitao School
Kitao Masayoshi
1764 -1824 · Edo period
Famous views of Japan
Masayoshi was an illustrator, painter and, under the name Kuwagata Keisai, the author of highly influential drawing manuals. His vocabularies of simplified forms teach how to capture a creature or landscape in a few strokes.
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Utagawa School
Utagawa Toyohiro
1774 -1830 · Edo period
Summer Party on the Banks of the Kamo River
Toyohiro designed prints, illustrated books and paintings of beauties, but his name remains chiefly associated with his pupil Hiroshige. His place in this ranking reminds us that a great master can also be recognized in the future he makes possible.
See the workThe floating world continues to circulate
These fifty signatures do not close the story: they show how popular, collective and inventive art has lastingly changed the way we frame a scene.
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