Beautiful Japanese Women

I hope I didn't scare you with that title (don't worry, I'll never post anything nude or off color for you). These beautiful women were all painted by the famous Japanese printmaker of the 19th century, Eizan. These are part of his Ekiyo-e series, which roughly translates as Images of the Floating World. The paintings of this period (the Edo period in Japan) eventually found their way into the galleries of Europe and were known to have influenced the likes of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Whistler and the graphic artists known as Les Nabis, to name just a few. They currently have 21 of his prints hanging in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

For those of you that want to learn more about this style of Japanese painting or printmaking, there are many good books available. One that I suggest is the hardcover edition of "Floating World of Ukiyo-E: Shadows, Dreams and Substance". You can find it at Amazon, and other good bookstores. It's a little pricy at USD$60, but you can sometimes find it used in a good used bookstore.