Showa Figurative Prints

A maiko shyly covers her mouth with her sleeve. An apprentice geisha, she wears the maiko’s distinctive red collar and hairstyle. She could be contemplating the public odori dances t...

Benji Asada, 'Kyoto Omuro no Sakura (The Cherry Blossoms and a Pagoda at Ninnaji Temple)', color woodblock, 1947. Title and Asada's art name 'Tangyu' with ...

Paper Size: 37.4 x 31.6 cm Image Size: 27 x 24 cm Print on paper, signed in pencil to the right, Edition in pencil 39/58. There is an artist water mark in the paper (see image) As South Asian specialist's we knew nothing about this fabulous print when we first set eyes on it but the form and presence of the piece was so compelling we snapped it up. Purchased from an estate sale in the UK. Research has led us to the information in the listing. As art specialists, the handling of the print would suggest a period around the 1960's. There is a watermark with the artist's name in the paper, to the right hand side, not visible unless held up to light. Junichiro Sekino (1914-1988) was one of the leading artists of the Sosaku Hanga movement and is widely considered one of Japan's most important 20th century print artists. His work is collected by the Museum of Modern Art, N. Y., Seattle Art Museum...

Ito Nisaburo, 'Irises', color woodblock, c. 1950s. Signed with the artist’s red seal, lower right. A fine impression from a later printing, with fresh colors, on cream "Uchida" watermarked washi paper; the full sheet in excellent condition. Published by Uchida with the publisher's seal, lower right within the image, and in the lower left margin. Image size 15 7/8 x 10 5/8 inches (403 x 270 mm); sheet size 17 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches (451 x 302 mm). Archivally sleeved, unmatted. ABOUT THE ARTIST Born in Kyoto, shin-hanga artist Nisaburo Ito (1910-1988) was a student of Tsuchida Bakusen at the Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting. Ito created woodblock prints of flowers...

Benji Asada, 'Kyoto Omuro no Sakura (The Cherry Blossoms and a Pagoda at Ninnaji Temple)', color woodblock, 1947. Title and Asada's art name 'Tangyu' with ...

Torii Kotondo, 'Combing Hair (Kamisuki)', woodblock print, 1929 (later reprint). Signed 'Kotondo-ga' with the red seal 'Kotondo'. A superb impression with fresh colors, on handmade cream wove Japan paper, in flawless condition. An impression from the commemorative edition of 100 published by Ishukankokai, with the publisher’s red seal in the lower left margin. Carver/Printer: Ito Susumu/Watanabe Yoshiaki. Offered In the original publisher’s elaborate presentation folder with an additional inner folder and tissue guard. The portfolio presentation makes this offering very attractive for gifting. Image size 16 3/16 x 10 5/16 inches; sheet size 19 x 13 inches; presentation folder size 21 5/8 x 16 inches. ABOUT THIS WORK After Kotondo's death, with the permission of his heirs, the venerable publisher Ishukankokai produced a set of 12 Kotondo beauty designs in a commemorative edition of 100. Seeking to honor the exacting standards of Kotondo's originals, expert carvers were contracted to produce the finest woodblocks, and master printers meticulously reprinted the designs with the utmost attention to quality and detail. Printed on beautiful, handmade Japanese paper, the edition replicates the same colors and mica detail as Kotondo's originals. This favored Kotondo design is considered one of his masterworks and one of the great nudes of 20th-century Japanese printmaking. A young beauty, captured in a private moment, combing her hair after the bath. The young woman's hair, a dark black, is accented with rich blue, producing a luminous glow. Her pale skin tones contrast with the blue background skillfully printed with swirling baren marks. The figure is lightly embossed at the edges of the legs, arms, body, and face, to beautiful effect. When it was published in 1929, authorities considered this work overly provocative and banned it after seventy of its hundred copies had sold—the remaining thirty impressions were destroyed. ABOUT THE ARTIST Torii Kotondo (1900 – 1976), or Torii Kiyotada V, was born Saitō Akira in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo. Torii Kiyotada IV, the seventh head of the Torii school of ukiyo-e artists, adopted Kotondo at age 15 and trained him in the school's specialty, producing yakusha-e, portraits of kabuki actors. Kotondo studied painting under the yamato-e painter Kobori Tomone from 1914 and under Kiyokata Kaburagi from 1918. Kiyokata influenced Kontodo's woodblock bijin-ga portraits (pictures of beautiful women) as did celebrated shin hanga designers Goyō Hashiguchi...

A very fine, atmospheric impression, with fresh colors; the full sheet, in excellent condition. Signed 'Hasui' with the artist’s seal 'Kawase', lower left. Published by Watanabe Shozaburo with the Watanabe 6mm round seal indicating a lifetime impression printed between 1945 - 1957. An impression of this work is in the permanent collection of the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation. ABOUT THE ARTIST Hasui Kawase...

Hiroshi Yoshida, 'Taj Mahal - Night', color woodblock print, 1931. Signed in brush 'Yoshida' and in pencil 'Hiroshi Yoshida', and titled in pencil, with the artist's jizuri (self-printed) seal in the upper left margin. A superb, early impression, with fresh colors; the full sheet with full margins, on cream Japan paper; areas of slight toning to the sheet edges, verso, otherwise in excellent condition. Image size 9 5/8 x 14 3/4 inches (444 x 375 mm); sheet size 10 7/8 x 16 inches (276 x 406 mm). Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Provenance: M. Nakazawa, Tokyo. ABOUT THE ARTIST Painter and printmaker Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950) is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the Japanese 'shin hanga' (New Print) movement. Yoshida was born as the second son of Ueda Tsukane in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, a schoolteacher from an old samurai family. In 1891 he was adopted by his art teacher Yoshida Kasaburo in Fukuoka and took his surname. In 1893 he went to Kyoto to study painting, and the following year to Tokyo to join Koyama Shotaro's Fudosha private school; he also became a member of the Meiji Fine Arts Society. These institutions were teaching and advocating Western-style painting, which greatly influenced Yoshida’s artistic development. In 1899 Yoshida had his first American exhibition at Detroit Museum of Art (now Detroit Institute of Art), making the first of many visits to the US and Europe. In 1902 he helped reorganize the Meiji Fine Arts Society, renaming it the Taiheiyo-Gakai (Pacific Painting...

Ikeda Zuigetsu, 'Yellow Daffodils (Kinazuisen)', color woodblock print, c. 1930s. Signed ‘Tsuigetsu’ in black with the artist’s red seal beneath. A superb, atmospheric impression, w...

Paul Jacoulet, 'Après la Danse, “Celebes” (After the Dance, “Celebes”), color woodblock, 1940, edition 250, Miles 67. A fine impression, with fresh co...

Uirou uri, Kabiki Actor Color woodcut, 1931 Signed and sealed lower right From: "Kabuki Juhachi-Ban" (Eighteen Kabuki Plays) by the Ichikawa Family Carver: Okura Hanbei Printer: Shinmi Yohei Publisher: Gekiga Kanko Kai Condition: Very fresh colors Light creases/indentations from the original folio presentation Image/sheet size: 8 x 7 1/8 inches has original presentation folder with a sheet of explanations of the play depicted in Japanese. "Ota Masamitsu...

Nakamura Utaemon VI as the Courtesan Yatsuhashi Color woodcut, 1954 Signed and stamped in the image upper left Series title: Gendai butai geika (Flowers of the Modern Stage) Printer: Miyake Kōshodō (Japanese, active ca. 1950) Deluxe impression with reverse embossing for sculptural effect, mica pigments in the hair and collar of obi Image size: 14 3/4 x 10 1/16 inches Frame size: 20 7/8 x 16 3/4 inches Sheet size: 16 1/2 x 10 7/8 inches Condition: Excellent Archival framing in finished corner black and gold leaf frame Note: An impression of this image is in the collection of the Portland Art Museum 91.48.1B, Gift of Mrs. Fay Kramer "Ota Masamitsu...