• Parody of Zhu Wu: the Divine Strategist <i>Shinkigunshi Shubu no mitate</i> (神機軍師朱武の見立) from <i>Tsūzoku Suikoden Gōketsu Hyaku-hachi-nin no Hitori</i> (通俗水滸伝豪傑百八人之一個) 'The hundred and eight heroes of the Suikoden' <i>Ōgiya uchi Hanaōgi</i> The courtesan Hana-Ogi of the Ogiya house (扇屋内 花扇)
  • Posthumous portrait of Arashi Rikan I (嵐璃寛) as Kiso Yoshinaka (木曾義仲) riding an ox as seen in the play <i>Gunpō Fujimi Saigyō</i> (軍法富士見西行)
  • Izumo no Imaro (出雲伊麿) stabs a <i>wani</i> (sea-monster - 鰐)
  • Amorous couple with a small painted scroll from the series 'Secret Conversations with Courtesans' (<i>Keisei higo</i> - 契情秘語)
  • Chōryō rescuing a slipper from the Wei River for Kōsekikō, the 'Yellow Stone Elder' (漢黄石公), disguised as an insignificant old man, from the series <i>Kan-So Gundan</i> (漢楚軍談)
  • <i>Now on Show at Okuyama, Asakusa: Lifelike Dolls of Foreign Strangers and the Maruyama Courtesans</i> (浅草奥山生人形 - <i>Asakusa Okuyama ikiningyo</i>)
  • Double portrait of Ichikawa Ebizō V (市川海老蔵) as Toneri Matsuōmaru (舎人松王丸) on the right and Ichikawa Gangyoku I (市川眼玉) as Shundō Genba (春藤玄蕃) on the left from an untitled series of paired actors on poem slips (<i>tanzaku</i>)
  • Volume 1 of <i>Gaten Tsūkō</i> [画典通考]
  • The Tenmei Era (天明ノ頃) from the series <i>Patterns of Edo</i> (<i>Hana moyō</i> - 花模様)
  • Tengu and carp - left panel of a diptych

Welcome to The Lyon Collection!

Ukiyo-e Prints in the Mike Lyon Collection

Mike Lyon (artist b. 1951) was fortunate to have grown up familiar with Japanese prints. In his youth Lyon’s parents and grandparents displayed examples that certainly inspired his own artistic development. He began acquiring Japanese color woodcuts early in his career as an artist. The types of prints that feature most prominently among the many hundreds in Lyon's collection reflect the artist’s deep appreciation of the human figure and the expressive facial portrait. The vast majority of Japanese prints in the Lyon collection represent views of actors yakusha-e) and beautiful women (bijin-ga), and in particular the close-up, bust-length portraits of the same (okubi-e).

Browse Featured Galleries