Utagawa Hiroshige II (二代目歌川広重) (artist late 1820s - late 1860s)

Ichiryūsai (go - 一龍斎)
Ichiyūsai (go - 一龍斎)
Kisai (go - 喜斎)
Morita (original family name - 森田)
Ryūsai (go - 立斎)
Ryūshō (go - 立祥)
Shigenobu (go - 重宣)
Suzuki Chimpei (family name - 鈴木鎮平)
Kisai Ryūshō (or Risshō) (喜斎立祥)

Links

Biography:

"Kojima Usui identifies Shigenobu (Hiroshige II), alias Suzuki Chinpei, as a member of a hikeshi-doshin family (fire-police) and born in 1826 (Bunsei 9). It is not known when Chinpei was given the name Shigenobu, or the precise circumstances of his close association with Hiroshige, but the name Shigenobu occurs on prints presumed to date from as early as 1840....

There is uncertainty regarding Shigenobu's first use of the title "Ichiyūsai," an appellation long abandoned by the first Hiroshige. Kojima refers to the use of the signature, "Ichiyūsai Shigenobu" as early as 1840 (Tempō 11). I have not encountered a single print by Shigenobu before 1855 in which this title appears with the signature."

Quoted from: Prints by Utagawa Hiroshige in the James A. Michener Collection, volume 2, Howard A. Link, 1991, p. 54.

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"After Hiroshige I's death in 1858, the name Hiroshige was taken over by his pupil and adopted son Suzuki Shigenobu (1826-69) and used by him until his retirement to Yokohama in c. 1865, when he changed to the name Kisai Ryūshō. Owing to their similar styles and use of similar signatures and seals the late paintings of Hiroshige I and those of Hiroshige II have yet to be differentiated satisfactorily. Hiroshige III (?1842-94), a pupil of Hiroshige I who assumed the name upon Hiroshige II's retirement in 1865, painted in a Western-influenced manner that is more easily distinguished..."

Quoted from: Ukiyo-e Painting in the British Museum by Timothy Clark, p. 182.

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The British Museum curatorial files online state: "Print artist. Pupil and adopted son of Utagawa Hiroshige (q.v.). First used name Shigenobu; when Hiroshige died in 1858, married his daughter and took the name Hiroshige II; about 1865 the marriage was dissolved and he retired to Yokohama and reverted to the name Shigenobu. Also used the name Kisai Rissho喜斎立祥."

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