Japanese Prints

Hashiguchi Goyo, 130 Years Birth Memorial Exhibition (Exhibition catalog from Chiba Museum)

2011-10-30T19:31:00.016+09:00

Hashiguchi Goyo, 130 Years Birth Memorial Exhibition
(Exhibition catalog from Chiba Museum, 2011)

Author: Iwakiri, Shinichiro
Publisher: Tokyo Shimbun, Tokyo, 2011
Softcover: 211 pages. 418 colour illustrations, 40-50 small b/w text figures.
Only Japanese text.

$ 47.50 + pp $12.50 (Europe/USA)
Sold out.
Let us know if you are in interested in this title and we will contact you when we find another.

Shows many previously unpublished works by Hashiguchi Goyo. Including the recently rediscovered masterpiece "Haguromo". A "must buy" for the collector of art work from this period. Gives a good visual insight into many different areas of art and design in the first decades of 20th century Japan.

Hashiguchi Goyō (橋口五葉, December 21, 1880 - February 24, 1921) collaborated very closely with Sugiura Hisui (杉浦非水 May 15, 1876 - August 18, 1965) when they both were working as designer for Mitsukoshi Department Store (Gofukuten). Sugiura was arguably the foremost graphical designer of the very late Meiji period and the Taisho period. During Goyo's and Sugiura's joint tenure at Mitsukoshi, Sugiura was Mitsukoshi's head-designer, Goyo's work is profuse but more sporadic then Sugiura's . Goyo's and Hisui's styles blended so closely that on most unsigned works it is almost impossible to say which one did the design.

Goyo's cooperation with the author Natsume Sōseki(夏目漱石, February 9, 1867 – December 9, 1916) is carefully examined.

The present catalog gives ample opportunities to make an appraisal of Goyo's entire body of work. The value of the catalog is in the huge amount of illustrations of never before published works and in this respect it's a big improvement on Iwakiri's previous Goyo Exhibition catalogue (1995).

A must have for the Shin hanga collector.

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More reference books, to improve your library and your knowledge.

Related posts:
Hashiguchi Goyo - Kuchi-e Print
Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921)(橋口五葉) - Service information brochure "Japan to London and Antwerp"

Beautiful Shin Hanga - Revitalization of Ukiyo-e. (The Robert Muller Collection)

2011-10-30T19:31:00.015+09:00

Beautiful Shin Hanga - Revitalization of Ukiyo-e. (The Robert Muller Collection)
(Exhibition Catalog, Edo Tokyo Museum of Art., 2009).
よみがえる浮世絵 : うるわしき大正新版画展
Yomigaeru ukiyoe : uruwashiki Taishō shin hanga ten

Catalog - Shinsui, Yoshida and Hasui

Softcover: 277 pp., profusely illustrated in colour with prints from the Muller Collection and other sources, text in Japanese, image captions in Japanese and English, English essays and list of plates, about 315 colour illustrations and some B&W text figures, 30 cm.

Publisher: Asahi Shimbun & Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum, Tokyo, 2009.

ISBN 4924965685 9784924965683

Price $ 47 + pp $22 (Europe/USA) (only 2 copies available)
SOLD OUT (2012 7/1)
Let us know if you are in interested in this title and we will contact you when we find another.

Essays (in Japanese and English):
James Ulak - Robert O. Muller: The Practical Romantic.
Koyama Shuko - The Birth and Development of Shin-hanga, Focusing on the Activities of Publisher, Watanabe Shozaburo.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 258-259).

A very fine catalog of the Robert Muller collection of Shin Hanga prints with much documentary material on the printing and the process of creating Shinhanga. Strong on Shinsui, Yoshida and Hasui prints.

Needed in the library of any Japanese print collector.

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More reference books, to improve your library and your knowledge.

The World of Taisho Images - Modern Design and Illustration

2011-10-30T19:30:00.007+09:00

The World of Taisho images - Modern Design and Illustration
(Exhibition catalogue and book, Shoto Museum)

大正イマジュリィの世界―デザインとイラストレーションのモダーンズ
(Taishō imajurii no sekai : Dezain to irasutorēshon no modānzu)

Exhibition Catalog - Taisho Period design and illustrations

Authors: 山田俊幸,谷口朋子,瀬尾典昭,竹内貴久雄,辺見海編 ; 山田俊幸監修山田, 俊幸, 谷口, 朋子, 瀬尾, 典昭 ;
Toshiyuki Yamada; Tomoko Taniguchi; Noriaki Seo
Softcover: 192 pages, maybe 600-700 color illustrations.
Publisher: Piebukkusu (PIE Books) (2010/11/19), Tokyo
ISBN 978-4-89444-868-1

$ 45 + pp $10 (Europe/USA) (~~only 2 copies available~~ 1 left)

A fine overview of pictorial graphical design, illustrations, prints, postcards and stationary items published in the Taisho period.

Artists mentioned in this catalog includes; Sugiura Hisui, Takabatake Kasho, Takahashi Haruka, Fukiya Koji, Hashiguchi Goyo, Maeda Masao, Kobayashi Kaichi, Takehisa Yumeji, Tachibana Sayume, Okamoto Kiichi, Koga Harue, Fujishima Takeji, Sakamoto Hanjiro, Tomimoto Kenkichi et alia. Many them of given their own short essay plus 5-20 representative works.

Several different areas of graphical design and fine art prints are not covered in this publication, for example fan prints, both "fine art" fans as well as promotional, scant on advertisements, posters and similar.

There are also some glaring omissions among the artists of the period for example Takeuchi Seiho, and many different Nihonga artist which also worked with graphical design, as well as many artists associated with the Sosaku hanga and Shin hanga movements.

However this catalog is so far the best overview of the subject, it should be in the library of any body interested in art of this period.

Highly recommended.

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More reference books, to improve your library and your knowledge.

Values of Japanese Prints in an Appraisal - Different values for the same print?!

2011-07-27T18:15:00.023+09:00

Appraising and valuation of Japanese prints and Oriental art

Different values for the same item!?

How do you know which one is the right one for your purpose?
What do the different appraisal values mean?
I would like to show you the 5 most common value types in appraising Japanese prints, paintings and illustrated books.

Retail Replacement Value (RRV) (or Insurance Replacement Value). If you want to buy a replacement for a lost item or a collection in a short time, you will go to a high-end Japanese print dealer. The price you pay is the Retail Value, this should get you a high quality item with full guarantees of authenticity and condition. Replacement Value is normally used for insurance evaluations. High value prints or collection; it is very difficult to asses the RRV in a high value Japanese print appraisal, it usually needs the appraiser to work with a very experienced International Japanese print dealer, or having the collection appraised by an highly experienced specialist dealer/appraiser. Usually RRV and FMV are very close or identical for comparable high quality items.

Fair Market Value (FMV) is what a buyer would be willing to pay in a public and carefully cataloged Japanese print auction or in the open market, where both the parties have the full information about the market and the item traded. Fair Market Value is usually used in income and estate tax valuations. The FMV is described and defined in length f.ex. by the US - IRS in various rules and regulations, as also other National Tax Services in various jurisdictions does. We have a fairly comprehensive knowledge about rules relating to taxable values in several of the main jurisdictions as well as common inheritance issues. In reading auction results many of the items are not in good condition, late printings or sometimes even fakes. This can't be discerned by the generalist appraiser who rely auction result lists. The specialist have his vast (hopefully) detailed experience and annotated auction catalogues, and therefore can make a much better call.

Marketable Cash Value (MCV) The Marketable Cash Value is the money you would receive after deducting the sales cost from the Fair Market Value (FMV) selling your woodblock prints in well published and attended auction. Typically the sales cost are as follows Hammer Commission (20-25%), Sellers Commission (15-30%) and various costs (insurance, illustration, printing, cataloging, storage, transport, packing and similar). Typically the auction house keeps about 35-45% of the total selling price, but sometimes the total cost can come to well over 50% of the FMV.

Liquidation Value is the value (prize) of an item sold on short notice and with limited market reach. This type of sale is usually conducted on behalf of credit institutions, banks or owners who needs to raise cash fairly quickly. The liquidation value (prize) is usually lower then the above values.

Salvage Value is the expected prize realized in a situation were both the seller and buyer have very limited market access and knowledge. Typically the item has been abandoned by the legal owner (f.ex. an abandoned storage unit) or been lost and found without recovery by the rightful owner.

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Free appraisal and evaluation.

The "Free Japanese Print Appraisal" establish an approximate Marketable Cash Value (MCV) for woodblock prints based on your images or photos, please see "Japanese Print Appraisal" for further details and the email form for the "Free Appraisal". Please remember, the value based on an emailed image is non committing, if we see the real print we can give you a correct value.

Our "Advanced Appraisals" will give you the Retail Replacement Value (RRV) on the main report as well as Marketable Cash Value (MCV) and Fair Market Value (FMV) on a memo attached to the main report if so desired by the client. The appraisal cover sheet will have a detailed explanation about the general value of your collection, the PM will give a detailed analysis and explanation about the Marketable Cash Value (MCV) and Fair Market Value (FMV) as relevant to your collection and the items therein.

Related content:
Japanese Print Appraisal

Hasui - Watercolor. Preparatory painting for a woodblock print.

2008-03-24T08:17:00.054+09:00

Hasui - A watercolor, a preliminary sketch for a Japanese woodblock print

Kawase Hasui - An original watercolor. A preparatory watercolor for a woodblock print.

Kawase Hasui (1883-1957)(川瀬巴水) - Higashi Agano, Saitama. A tea plantation.

Bushu (Saitama) Higashi Agano, watercolor, a preparatory work for woodblock print published 1941.

See Kendall H. Brown - Kawase Hasui, The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, Amsterdam, Vol. 2, p. 521, pl. 456.

Most of Hasui's prints seem to be based on atmospheric and beautiful watercolors. These were most probably done on location however this needs more research. There exists pencil drawings in sketchbooks, which seems to be preparatory sketches either for the watercolours and/or the prints; again it is very difficult to say if these are done on the actual location. The creative process of Hasui seems shrouded in mystery, and at the moment is most anecdotal in nature and very little is known by substantiated facts.
There is a short movie (see below) of Hasui making a pencil and watercolor preparatory sketch for a print. Many of Hasui's watercolors seems to have been done within a year or two of the print, however in some cases there seems to have been decades between the original work and the print version. Most often the preparatory work for a Japanese print was a line drawing. Hasui and most other Shinhanga artist used the "boneless" style of woodblock print so most likely most preparatory works were actual paintings.

Hasui's watercolors are highly sought after both by Japanese institutions and collectors as well as their Western counter parts.

In the present watercolor Hasui uses an almost pointillistic technique in applying the watercolours. This is especially noticeable on the tea bushes were this watercolor technique helps to render depth and three dimensionality as well as well depicting the foliage the tea bushes in a natural way.

Recently there are many collectors and museums who are trying to buy Hasui's watercolors.

Medium: Watercolour on Japanese watercolour paper.
Signed: Hasui, sealed Kawase.
Condition: Fine color condition, unfaded. The paper is very slightly toned, a bit more towards the edges, especially along the extreme end of the deckle edges.
Size: The present watercolour is done on a daioban-sized paper. 55.6 x 40.5 cm.
Provenance: Private collection, Japan.
The original owner acquired this watercolour directly directly from Hasui. Many of the "Hasui" watercolours on the market are "production" watercolors of a quality and lack of professional technique which makes us question to as if these are just very sloppy work by Hasui or if they were executed by craftsmen in the woodcarving/printing workshop. The above watercolour is of superb technique and conception. Coupled with the direct acquisition from Hasui, rather then one of the publishers, it is a work with absolute certainty to be autograph by Hasui.

Illustrated: This painting is shown in - Mitsuba Museum of Showa Women University, Exhibition of prints by Kawase Hasui, a landscape printmaker loved by the world. Tokyo, 1997

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Click the four arrow full-screen symbol, in the lower right corner, after the movie starts, this will give you a full-screen window. Due to the bad quality of the movie this is almost necessary. Press the esc key (escape) to get out of full-screen mode.
There is no sound.

The movie about Kawase Hasui has been supplied by the publisher Brill (under their Hotei brand), who published the complete catalogue of Hasui's woodblock prints (which unfortunately is not as complete as would be wished for, as most of the rare/ very rare non-export designs are missing).

We have a large selection of high quality early Hasui prints. Don't hesitate to contact us!

Kawase Hasui in Wikipedia

Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921)(橋口五葉) - Service information brochure "Japan to London and Antwerp"

2008-03-24T07:40:00.021+09:00

Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921)(橋口五葉) - Service information brochure "Japan to London and Antwerp"

Service information brochure "Japan to London and Antwerp". The brochure gives the names of agents for NYK in different countries. Conditions of passage. Distances between ports of call. Deck plans and so on. In the passenger tariff we can find a first class ticket from London to Yokohama is £60, a second class £41. If you want to upgrade to cabin #31 (the best on the boat) and traveling alone, you have to pay a 65% surcharge on your first class ticket. A "Round the World" ticket with NYK Lines would have cost you $ 510 (US Gold) (Esq. £102) if you went via New York, if instead you prefer to go via Montreal you would have saved US Gold $ 10.

Sealed: Go, on the front cover
Condition: Very good. The usual centerfold, short tear front cover right margin, center spread loose on one staple, staples slightly rusty.
Published: Nippon Yusen Kaisha.
Printer: Tokyo Printing Company.
Date: July, 1913.
Edition: 6000 copies.
Today very scarce. This is the first copy of this brochure we have handled.

Another example is published in Hashiguchi Goyo Ten (Exhibition of Hashiguchi Goyo), Odakyu, Tokyo, 1995, p.230, ill.360.

The front cover by Hashiguchi Goyo, Lithographed by pen and brush. Probably lithographed by Goyo himself. The work is not by a professional lithographer but at the same time the line shows brilliant artistic sense, which would indicate Goyo is responsible for the lithographing.

$575

What I understand from speaking with people who traveled with the great liners in the 20s and 30s, this type of deluxe leaflet was handed over to the passenger at the actual purchase of the ticket. At least this seems to have been the case for the P&O line(Far East), the Cunard line to the US from London. The brochure often acted as the cover for the passengerlist, as it was considered rude to consult the passenger list in public. The centerfold which you nearly always encounter on these brochures was due to it was folded so it would fit into a gentleman's pocket.

WebGoyo001

Related Japanese print; Hashiguchi Goyo Bijin kuchi-e lithograph

Hashiguchi Goyo

2008-03-24T06:11:00.027+09:00

Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921)(橋口五葉) - A bijin looking at a bird in a cage.

Kuchi-e for "Uguisu Kotoba" (Song of the bush warbler) (This is my own translation and should be taken with great caution.)

Signed: Sealed, reading "go" in kanji and a sketch of two leaves (yo).
Publisher: Juseido. Published in the magazine "Shin Fujin", 2nd year, 1st month.
Date: Meiji 45, 1st of January (1912).
Printer: Probably Toppan Printing Company.
Condition: Good, usual two fold marks, slight discolouration to flaps as usual, a few minor tears on margins, some slight foxing and discolouration, light creasing.
Impression: Fine, a rich and saturated impression.
Size: Roughly Oban sized, an over sized kuchi-e. 25.5 x 36.9 cm.
Very rare.

Another example is published in Hashiguchi Goyo Ten (Exhibition of Hashiguchi Goyo), Odakyu, Tokyo, 1995, p.214, ill. 327.

The technique for this kuchi-e is crayon lithograph. Judging the style and excellent technique of the lithograph work and the printing, the kuchi-e was most probably made by Toppan Printing Company. In 1910 Toppan introduced the best and most modern equipment available in the world. They quickly mastered the full potentials of the equipment. Toppan’s excellent lithographers managed to produced some of the best crayon lithographs ever done. This is seen especially in the works by Kitano Tsunetomi, but also Hashiguchi Goyo and many of the most famous artists of the period. Goyo made a poster for Mitsukoshi Department Store (at this time known as Mitsui Gofuku-ten). This poster became the most well known poster in Japan. The Goyo poster was a "Style" definer and widely collected. Today it is very scarce, even in very bad condition.

Goyo was together with the more well-known (in Japan) Sugiura Hisui the main designers for Gofukuten (Mitsukoshi). Most works done by them for Gofuku-ten are unsigned, sometimes one encounters Hisui’s signature mark on various works but it is very rare to find Goyo’s mark. Most often one has to relay on stylistic sensibility to separate their works.

This piece is with our paper conserver for slight conservation treatment. Delivery 14 days.

SOLD

WebGoyo002

Hashiguchi Goyo at Wikipedia

Related Japanese print; Hashiguchi Goyo Service brochure with Bijin

Kobayashi Kiyochika - The Photographer

2008-02-28T13:58:00.022+09:00

Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) (小林清親) - “Mirror of Army and Navy Heroes” The War Photographer.

Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) (小林清親) is, in my humble opinion, the most visually interesting of the artists who depicted the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905.

He produced more then 70 triptychs and multitude of single sheets designs, during the brief ten months of the Sino-Japanese War.

The above print is from the rare series “Mirror of Army and Navy Heroes”. This set paid tribute to individual heroes, who preformed their duties well in battle.

We have a good selection of Sino and Russo-Japanese war triptychs, however the single sheets tend to be much more rare then the triptychs with the exception of the single sheet series "One Hundred Laughs", these humours war propaganda prints are still not to difficult to find. However some of the triptychs by Kiyochika are exceedingly difficult to find.

A "Photo-journalist". Naval officers standing in the background.

Date: 1895 (Meiji 28), March.
Size: Oban tate-e
Signed: Kiyochika, sealed Kiyochika
Publisher: Inoue Yoshijiro.
Impression: A very fine impression. An atmospheric printing with superbly and thinly printed bokkashi in the background as well as on the deckboards in the foreground.
Condition: Fine
Colour: Fine.

Some of the other prints from this set which are available:

"Sailor Tanaka Ichitaro" - The blinded sailor.
"Lieutenant Manu Ganjiro of the Ninth Torpedo" - The "One man torpedo".
About twenty more designs are available. Please inquire.

The above group of prints comes from a large family collection of ukiyo-e, which we bought last year in Kyoto. The prints were all Meiji period prints and collected between the late 1870s- 1908. They were all kept in the family "kura"(1). All prints from this collection are in fine condition. They have not been touched since 1908, but kept in the same chest in which the original owner placed them. Most of this collection was bought by one institution. However some were not, due to previous content of their collection they did not want to have duplicates. Of the remains we are offering prints from the above set for sale to our blogg readers.

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1. Kura is a special built house meant to be fire, earthquake and burglar proof. It was a very expensive structure to build. Very rich families kept their family treasures, gold, money and valuable commercial goods in the kura. If the kura contained commercial goods it was usually divided in to parts, a commercial stock part and a private part, sometimes two separate "kura" were built.

倉"kura " n: warehouse, storehouse, granary. (See the Japanese characters likeness to a house with a very strong wood frame and an entrance bridge leading up to the door. A true pictogram.)

Beneath are two links to a very informative website by Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the above war campaigns and the artists who depicted them:

The above website have been highly controversial. You should read the text by Professor John Dower of the history faculty and Professor Shigeru Miyagawa of linguistics and of foreign languages. Please follow this link to read about the controversy.

Tags: Japanese Photographer, Photo Journalist, Senso-e,

Anders Rikardson Google Author Profile

Kuniyoshi Shunga

2007-07-25T09:37:00.030+09:00

Attributed to Utagawa Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 (歌川国芳) - A small shunga (erotic print) of three English women attacking a "samurai" in exotic surroundings.

A Japanese man being overpowered by three foreign women all in a setting of exotic Western buildings, presumably meant to be London. The women are English as the picture has an inset of the English flag (not the Union Jack) and the text in the subtitle cartouche says "igirisu" - English. It is very rare to find a pre-Yokohama depiction of Englishmen printed in Edo.

The Flag of England is the St George's Cross. It seems odd an Edo period picture would carry such a detailed reference. However there was a printed hand scroll of the flags of the world published around this date 1840s-50s. There were also further painted similar hand scrolls circulated. These scrolls usually carry the flags of England (St. George’s Cross), Scotland (St. Andrew's Cross), and Ireland (St. Patrick’s Cross), and also the combination of these flags - the Union Jack.

It is the only scene of this kind and period I have seen in this format. It is not very shunga though; you just get the faintest whiff of the pubics of one of the women. However an exotic environment always seems to carry a strong sexual atmosphere.

This is not a Yokohama-e shunga (1860s) but an earlier print, published around 1850.

Size: Mamegiri-ban, 8.9 x 12.3 cm.
Condition: Fine, minimal soiling to margins.
Impression: Fine with deep blind printing, gold and silver printing, on deluxe surimono-type Hosho paper.
Date: 1845-55

Price: $ 220

Shunga (春画) - Spring Picture (an erotic art print or picture)

Eight more prints from this set by Kuniyoshi are available. Prices from $60 to $95. Very good to fine condition.

We have a large collection of 17th-19th century ukiyo-e shunga, Japanese woodblock printed shunga as well as shunga paintings of the Ukiyo-e, Shijo and Kano school. All for sale.

Chokosai Eisho, active ca. 1780-1800 - Bijin and Bishonin, hashirae woodblock print

2007-06-02T11:43:00.015+09:00

Hosoda Eisho (Chokosai Eisho), active ca. 1780-1800

Bijin and a young man (bishonin) doing the laundry.

Date: Ca. 1785-95
Size: Hashira-e
Signed: Eisho ga
Publisher:
Impression: Very good
Condition: Good/very good, some soiling and scuffing
Colour: Good/very good, all printed in very fugitive colours, such as yugao (dayflower) blue.
Provenance: Ex. Dr. Gerhard Pulverer collection.
It is very difficult to find hashira-e of this period in very good condition as the above example.
$3300
Sold

(If you are interested in this or similar prints, let us know and we can try to find something)
Eisho was the foremost pupil of Chobunsai Eishi. Alternative names for Eisho are Chobunsai Eisho, Hosoda Eisho. We have many prints in stock by Eishi and his pupils, f.ex. Eisho, Eisui, Eiri et alia.

Inventory: Hosoda Eisho 1wb, Chokosai Eisho

Hiroshige - Temple in Snow

2007-05-21T16:15:00.017+09:00

Ando Hiroshige (Utagawa Hiroshige I) (1797-1858) (歌川広重) - Asakusa Kinryusan, chutanzaku.

A snow scene from the series "Set of Famous Views of the Eastern Capital", subtitle "Asakusa Kinryuzan in Snow". Hiroshige is creating deepth by using an image "cut-out" techninque which might have been one of the biggest contributions any Japanese artist ever have done to world art. He efficiently crop the pagoda in the foreground as well as the pagoda in the background, thereby focusing the viewer on the "endless" empty space of falling snow.
The series is one of the most rare of Hiroshige's mid period "Edo View" series.

Size: Chu-tanzaku
Signed: Hiroshige ga
Date: 1838-1842
Condition: Very good, some very light soiling on top margin and some minute wormholes repaired.
Impression: Very good
Rare

SOLD

(If interested in this or similar prints let us know and we can try to find something)
Inventory: Ando Hiroshige 1wb

Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850) - Night, Oiran in Yoshiwara, shikishiban surimono

2007-05-02T21:50:00.022+09:00

Totoya (Katsushika) Hokkei (1780-1850) - Oiran

An Oiran in front of a street light on the main street of Yoshiwara. Oiran was the highest rank of the prostitutes working in the "Willow World" of Yoshiwara. A Yoshiwara oiran usually carried the obi tied on the front of the kimono.

Size: Shikishiban surimono.
Condition: Fine condition, fine colours, minute wormhole repaired on the left margin, otherwise fine.
Impression: Very fine impression, a deep black, velvet like gradation of the shadows, silver printing.
Signed: Hokkei
Date: Ca. 1820
$2450

Sold

If interested in this or similar prints let us know. We have a large inventory of surimono by Hokusai and his pupils (Hokkei, Gakutei, Shinsai, Katsushika Hokusai II et alia), also many surimono available by other ukiyo-e artists(Kiyonaga, Utamaro, Shunsho, Toyokuni I and pupils, and many others), as well as surimono by artists of the Shijo-Maruyama school.

The above image of the surimono is pre-restoration of the minute wormhole on the left. The wormhole is now restored, done by one of the most skillful paper conservators in Japan (and the world). The restoration is "invisible" and the wormhole can not be detected anymore. The print appears trimmed in the above image, however this is due to the mount covering the edges of the print. A new image of this print will be posted later.
As a surimono artist Hokkei is Hokusai's most important pupil.
Inventory: Totoya (Katsushika) Hokkei 1wb

Katsukawa Shunsho (1726-1793) (勝川春章) - The kabuki actor Arashi Sangoro II

2007-01-19T23:56:00.015+09:00

Katsukawa Shunsho (1726-1793) (勝川春章) - The actor Arashi Sangoro II

The actor Arashi Sangoro II preformed in Edo for six seasons before September 1777, when he left for acting in Osaka and Kyoto. He seems not to have returned to the kabuki theatres in Edo.

Katsukawa Shunsho was the first artist to introduce the "realistic" actor portrait.

Size: Hosoban untrimmed.

Condition: Fine, very good colours, beautiful deep oxidisation of the bridge rails, small repair top margin.

Impression: Very fine.

Signed: Shunsho zu

Date: Ca. 1770-1776, stylistically and also the writing of the signature points towards a date of the first two or three years of the 1770s. Late Meiwa or very early Annei period.

Very rare (not in Ueda/Clark - Shunsho, Chicago Art Institute).

Provenance: Deaccessioned from the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Metropolitan Museum seal bottom right. The validity of the deaccession has been confirmed in an email exchange between us and Masako Watanabe, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

SOLD

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)(是真紫田) - Surimono - Antique Ink Sticks

2007-01-19T23:49:00.011+09:00

Shibata Zeshin - A surimono depicting antique ink sticks

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) - Antique Ink Sticks

A surimono showing a bunjin's collection of antique ink sticks.
The ink-stick is one of the four prized possessions of the classical scholar. the others are the brush, the inkstone and paper. All four became art objects in their own right not only utilitarian implements.
The inkstick was not only a decorative object but also the colour and sheen of the ink was considered a major quality sign. A very dark grey with a sheen of old heavily tarnished silver was most sought after. The most refined inkstick of the late Ming-period have a scent of musty withering pineneedles.

Size: Oversized long surimono, nagaban size.
Condition: Fine, original fold marks as published.
Impression: Very fine with elaborate metal pigment and lacquer printing.
Signed: Zeshin

Sealed: Zeshin

$ 840
On hold.

If you are interested in Zeshin, contact us, we have a large selection of works by Shibata Zeshin (是真紫田).

Inventory: Shibata Zeshin 2wb

Anders Rikardson Google Author Profile

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)(是真紫田) - Surimono - Rooster, hen and chickens

2007-01-19T19:24:00.010+09:00

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) - Rooster, hen and chickens

A surimono showing a kacho-ga (birds and flower) subject.
In Japanese art the rooster is often a symbol of the "Five Virtues" - Courage, Martial Spirit, Loyalty, Virtue and Literary Accomplishment.
In the above image he also embodies "Good Husband, protector of the family".

Size: Oversized long surimono, nagaban size.
Condition: Fine, original fold marks, as published.
Impression: Fine.
Signed: Zeshin (signature printed in gold)

Sealed: Zeshin

$ 780

We have a large selection of Shibata Zeshin’s (是真紫田) works for sale; drawings, prints, surimono and paintings.

Inventory: Shibata Zeshin 1wb

Ota Nampo - Shokusanjin (1749-1823) (大田南畝 - 蜀山人)(Ota Nanpo) - Daruma, Kakemono Nikuhitsu, Sumie

2007-01-05T01:21:00.014+09:00

Ota Nampo - Daruma, signed Shokusanjin (artist name of Nampo)

Ota Nampo - Poem, signed Shokusanjin (artist name of Nampo)

Shokusanjin ga - Signature of Ota Nampo

Ota Nampo (Nanpo) - Shokusanjin (1749-1823) (大田南畝 - 蜀山人)

The Zen Buddhist patriarch Daruma (Bodhidharma) is seen from behind holding a fly-whisk. Both the painting and the poem is by Ota Nampo (Ota Nanpo). The poem above is signed Shokusanjin.

Date: First years of the 19th century.
Condition: Generally good, but some toning to the paper, it is less toned then you would imagine from the images. Some crease marks, some light soiling scuffs and stains.
Size: A hanging scroll, kakemono, Painted on paper. The mount seems to be a period mount. Later top and bottom, jikusaki (scroll knobs) later.
Signed: Shokusanjin

Ota Nampo (Nanpo) (a.k.a. Shokusanjin) was the most influential bunjin, calligrapher, poet and writer of the late 18th cent and early 19th cent. Shokusanjin worked together with for example Hokusai, Eishi, Utamaro, Toyokuni I, and numerous other ukiyo-e artists, as well as artists from other schools. It is very difficult to find an original painting by Ota Nampo, less then 10 are recorded.
The poem has no yet been read and translated.

$ ~~450~~ Reserved

We have the most comprehensive collection of original calligraphies by Ota Nampo (Nanpo), for sale, available. We further have a large selection of original works by other poets and authors of the Edo period as well as illustrated books, paintings, calligraphies and prints.

Clicking the above images will not create an enlargement. Alternative spelling -Ota Nanpo

Japanese woodblock prints - How to make a woodblock print, Japanese style.

2007-01-02T11:05:00.006+09:00

Making Japanese Woodblock Prints or How to: Make a Japanese Print

A 5.5-minute video on Japanese style woodblock print making by the 73 years old Canadian artist Graham Scholes.

Graham walks you through the entire process from making the necessary keyblock drawings, preparing the woodblocks for cutting. Then he cuts the key woodblock and the colour woodblocks. Grahams shows you how to apply the colours to the colour woodblocks and print them. Voila a "Japanese woodblock print" made in Canada.

Included is also a very short scene on traditional Japanese paper making in Japan.

There are some subtle differences between Graham's technique and the traditional ukiyoe style printmaking. Hopefully we can post a video of a traditional Japanese print maker some time in the future and explain the differences.

Thank you very much Graham for producing a very good visual of woodblock print production. Thanks!

Also look at our 18th and 19th cent. Ukiyo-e and Woodblock Prints - Click HOME