Nagashima Shungyō

Nagashima Shungyō 永嶌春暁 (active 1870-1905)   

BIOGRAPHY


Almost nothing is known about the life of Nagashima Shungyō.  Chaikin and the Tahara Municipal Museum state he was the son of Utagawa Yoshitora (fl. c. 1836-1882).1 Chaikin also writes that he called himself Mōsai after 1874 and was also known as Utagawa Shungyō.2  Most of his extant prints are senso-e of the Sino-Japanese War or kaika-e (prints of modernization and Westernization).


The online database of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, provides the following information on "Shungyo Nagashima":

The British Museum lists the artist Nagashima Shungyo as being active 1850-1910.


Shungyō and Yoshitora One In The Same?


Several sources suggest or imply that Nagashima Shungyō, rather than being the son of Utagawa Yoshitora, is one and the same with Yoshitora. This seems to be based upon their reported family and given names Nagashima Tatsugorō  永嶌辰五郎 being the same5 and their both frequently using the art name Mōsai 孟斎 in signing many of their prints. I think they were two different artists, based upon stylistic and subject matter differences in their prints.  In addition, they had different recorded home addresses for the year 1880.  Andreas Marks tells us that Yoshitora's home address in 1877 to 1878 was Kandaku Sudachō Yon-banchi, in 1879  Kyōbashi Matsukawachō Roku-banchi, and in 1880 to 1881 Kanda Kajichō Roku-banchi. Shungyō's address on this collection's 1880 print The Glory of the Imperial Flowers is given as Kandaku Sudachō Yon-banchi, matching Yoshitora's 1877-1878 address but not matching his 1879-1881 addresses.6  

1 The Sino-Japanese War, Nathan Chaikin, self-published, 1983, p. 61

   Tahara Municipal Museum website: http://www.taharamuseum.gr.jp/exhibition/2014/ex140531/index3.html 

   Yoshitora (active c. 1850-1880) was born Nagashima and was a disciple of Kuniyoshi.

2 Op. site Chaikin, p. 61.

3 website of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco https://art.famsf.org/node/945827

4 http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collectionc_database/term_details.aspx

5 Although I think the addresses given for artists were somewhat suspect as they sometimes were the address of the publisher.

6 Nagashima is also seen using the characters 永島 and 長島 

Sample Signatures and Seals Attributed to Nagashima Shungyō

 永嶌孟斎画 Nagashima Mōsai ga,1877(British Museum)
 永嶌孟斎画 Nagashima Mōsai ga
永嶌孟斎筆Nagashima Mōsai hitsu
春暁画Shungyō ga
春暁画Shungyō ga1891
永嶌孟斎Nagashima Mōsai

永島春暁画

芳照

 Nagashima Shungyō ga

seal reading Yoshiteru

春暁更芳照画Shungyō sara Yoshtieru ga1890
孟斎春暁 Mōsai Shungyō, 1894
孟斎春暁Mōsai Shungyō, 1894
孟斎春暁Mōsai Shungyō, 1894(IHL Cat. #513)
孟斎春暁Mōsai Shungyō
孟斎春暁画  Mōsai Shungyō ga, 1889
孟斎春暁画Mōsai Shungyō ga, 1888
應需春暁画ōju Shungyō ga

last revision: 11/27/2018

Prints in Collection

[BELOW PRINTS GIFTED TO THE JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM OF ART, UNIVERSITY OF OREGON]

click on thumbnail for print details