• Group of actors in summer attire visiting a tea house overlooking the Benten Shrine at Shinobazu Pond in Ueno
  • View of Fuchū (<i>Fuchū no zu</i>: 府中之図) from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road (<i>Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi</i>: 東海道五十三次之内)
  • From the right: Arashi Tomisaburō II (嵐富三郎) as Usuyukihime, Sawamura Kunitaro II (澤村國太郎) as nyōbō Kojoro (女房小女郎), Nakamura Tsurūjirō I (中村鶴十郎) as Fugen no Gonhei, Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Jizo no Goheiji (地蔵の五平次) in the center, Nakamura Matsue III (中村松江) as Musume Omitsu (娘おみつ), Arashi Shagan (嵐舎丸) as Miroku no Tanin (みろくの他人) and Asao Gakujūrō (浅尾額十郎) as Sonobe Iori i(園部 伊織) in the play "Hanafubuki Uta no Nadokoro"
  • Sawamura Sōjūrō V (五代目沢村宗十郎) as Shiratsuka Jūemon (白柄十右衛門) - this is the left panel of a diptych in a scene from the play <i>Onoe Kikugorō Ichidai Banashi</i> (尾上梅寿一代噺)
  • Nakamura Utaemon III (中村歌右衛門) as Osono (おその)  disguised as a <i>komuso</i> (a traveling mendicant monk)
  • Ichikawa Danjūrō VIII as Kamiya Iemon (神谷仁右衛門) with his servant, Kohei and his dead wife Oiwa (お岩)  nailed to a door along with images of their skeletons - a <i>shikake-e</i> or 'mechanical print'
  • Onoe Kikugorō V (尾上菊五郎) as Hangan Yoshitsune (判官義経) on the left, Ichikawa Danjūrō IX (市川団十郎) as Musashibō Benkei (武蔵坊弁慶) in the middle, Ichikawa Sadanji I (市川左団次) as Togashi Saemon (富樫左衛門) on the right in one of <i>The 18 Kabuki Plays</i> (<i>Kabuki Jūhachiban</i> - 歌舞伎十八番之内) - <i>The Subscription List</i> (<i>Kanjinchō</i> - 勧進帳)
  • The Hour of the Rooster, Sixth Hour of Twilight (<i>Tori no koku, Kure muttsu</i>) - 5 to 7 PM, from the series <i>A Yoshiwara Clock</i> (<i>Yoshiwara tokei nihen - Mitate hakkei</i> - 吉原時計 酉ノ刻 暮六ツ)
  • View of Maisaka (<i>Maisaka no zu</i>: 舞阪ノ図) from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road (<i>Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi</i>: 東海道五十三次之内)
  • Bandō Mitsugorō IV (坂東三津五郎) as Gokuin Sen'emon (極印せん右衛門), No. 4 (四) from the series <i>Five Manly Men of the Present Day</i> (<i>Tōsei gonin otoko</i> - 当世五人男)

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).

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