Kawaguchiya Uhei (川口屋卯兵衛) (publisher )
Kawaguchi (seal name - 川口)Fukusendō (firm name - 福川堂)
Kawaguchi Uhei (family name - 川口卯兵衛)
Links
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Eizan exampleMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston - Eisen example
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Hiroshige example
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Yoshimune example
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Yoshiyuki example
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Sadahide example
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Toyokuni II example
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Sadatsuna example
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - Shunkō II example
Biography:
Edo print publisher (Marks 232). Started in the first decade of the nineteenth century and closed in VI/1852.
Artists published by this house include Eisen, Eizan, Hiroshige, Kuniaki, Kunimitsu, as both Kunisada and Toyokuni III, Kuniyasu, Kuniyoshi, Sadahide, Sadamasa, Sadatsuna, Shun'ei, Shunkō, Shunkō II, Shunsen, Toyokuni I, Toyokuni II, Yoshimune and Yoshiyuki.
[Artists in the Lyon Collection who were published by this house have their names highlighted in bold type.]
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"Kawaguchiya Uhei started his business in the 1800s. He established a very good relationship with the young artist Kunisada and, in 1808, seems to have been the first who issued his actor prints. Shortly in 1812 Kawaguchiya served as an official censor of prints. In 1815, he produced one of Kunisada's best early series, "The Great Hits of the Stage" (Ōatari kyōgen no uchi), showing striking close-ups of actors."
"Kawaguchiya’s portfolio was not restricted to actor prints alone as he also published many beauty prints in his early period, like the figure to the right by Eizan. Other artists were commissioned as well in this field, e.g. Kunisada, Eisen, Toyokuni, and also Toyokuni II who designed the series “Eight Views of the Yoshiwara” (Yoshiwara hakkei) in the late 1820s."
"In the 1820s, there was an interest in landscapes with a red cloud band in the horizontal format that a few publishers fed and Kawaguchiya called upon Shunkō II to create a small, untitled series for him."
"By the late 1830s, Kawaguchiya entered the market for illustrated books with Sadahide who also did print series for him like “Japanese Syllabary Copybook on the Treasury of Loyal Retainers” (Kanadehon Chūshingura)."
"In 1851, Kawaguchiya is listed as a member of the Old Faction (Motogumi) of the Picture Book and Print Publishers Guild (Jihon toiya), but his business was soon taken over by Tsujiya Yasubei, in the sixth month of 1852."
Quoted from: Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900 by Andreas Marks, Tuttle Publishing, 2010, page 252.