• Ichikawa Danjūrō VII (市川 團十郎) as Arajishi Otokonosuke (荒獅子男之助) subduing a giant rat - from the play <i>Date Kurabe Okuni Kabuki</i> [伊達競阿国劇場]
  • Nakamura Fukusuke I (中村福助) as Danshichi Kurobei (團七九郎兵衛) from the series <i>Matches for Thirty-six Selected Poems </i>(<i>Mitate sanjūrokkusen</i> - 見立三十六句撰) - the inset at the upper left is by Miyagi Gengyo　　
  • Arashi Koroku IV (あらし小六) as Omiwa [おみわ] at the base of a flight of stairs - probably the left-hand panel of a diptych from the play <i>Imoseyama Onna Teikin</i>[妹背山婦女庭訓 - <i>Mount Imo and Mount Se:An Exemplary Tale of Womanly</i>]
  • Nakamura Shikan I (中村芝翫) as a black man or <i>kuronbo</i> (黒んばう) carrying a large piece of coral
  • Bandō Hikosaburō IV (坂東彦三郎) as a ghost and Onoe Eizaburō III (尾上栄三郎) as a cowering princess - from the play <i>Tsumaga Gasane Sugata no Hana Kurabe</i> （嬲容顔花競 -つまがさねすがたのはなくらべ）
  • Three young bijin seated on a bench playing shamisen by lantern light
  • Viewing Plum Blossoms
  • Yu Kinrō and Shu Jushō (朱壽昌) from the series <i>The Twenty-four Chinese Paragons of Filial Piety</i> (<i>Morokoshi nijūshi-kō</i> - 唐土廾四孝)
  • This is the right-hand panel of <i>Morning Mist at Komagata</i> (<i>Komagata no Asagiri</i> - 駒形の朝霧)
  • A Wheat Straw Crafted Spectacle (<i>Mugiwara hari saiku shō utsushi</i>: 麦藁細工見世物) - the two right-hand panels of a four piece composition

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