Artist
Nishimura Shigenaga
Japanese, 1697–1756
Nishimura Shigenaga was a Japanese Baroque artist. 8 works are cataloged here, principally at Metropolitan Museum of Art. Nishimura Shigenaga was born in Edo.
Nishimura Shigenaga spent his life in Edo, a city now called Tokyo, where he carved and printed pictures for a living. He worked during the early days of ukiyo-e, the art of everyday life in floating-world prints, but he didn’t just paint courtesans and actors, he loved popular stories. One habit stuck: he often signed his prints with tiny colored seals, like a maker’s mark you have to squint to see.
Look for his bold lines and flat colors that feel almost toy-like. He used a technique called benizuri-e, prints inked in red and green, which gave his work a bright, simple pop. Shigenaga also liked to cram his pictures with little details: a shop sign here, a pet dog there.
It’s like he wanted every inch of the print to tell part of the tale. If you open an old Edo book and see a page filled with people and animals in bright blocks, chances are it’s his work hiding in plain sight.
Works by Nishimura Shigenaga
Collections represented
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