Ohara Koson

'Bullfinch on a Flowering Plum Tree' — Japanese kacho-e, c. 1900

c. 1900

Joseph Fleischmann, 'Whaling' (Hartingers Wandtafeln: Zoologie T. XXXII), monumental vintage color lithograph, 1900. Signed in the matrix, lower right. A superb, beautifully nuanced impression, on cream wove paper, the full sheet with margins (1 1/2 to 2 3/16 inches), in very good condition. Sheet size 28 x 38 1/2 inches (711 x 978 mm). The full sheet, unmounted and unmatted—shipped carefully rolled and protected. Rendering by A. Berger after Joseph Fleischmann. Published by Carl Gerold’s Son, Vienna, 1900. This Artic whaling scene depicts a Greenland whale in the foreground pursued by whalers. A whaling ship is seen in the background and at right, another whale among icebergs with seagulls overhead. The print by Albert Berger...

Ohara Koson (1877-1945), 'Carp and Water Chestnut', color woodblock print, 1926. A fine impression, with fresh colors, on cream Japan paper; the full sheet, in excellent condition. Signed 'Koson' with the artist’s red seal 'Koson'. Published by Watanabe Shozaburo. With the Watanabe 'C' seal in the lower right margin, indicating a lifetime impression printed between 1929-1942. Image size 13 1/2 x 7 1/4 inches (343 x 184 mm); sheet size 14 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches (368 x 191 mm). Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Literature: 'Crows, Cranes, and Camellias: The Natural World of Ohara Koson', Newland, Amy R.: Jan Perree & Robert Schaap, Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2001. S39.1, pl 169. Collections: National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian), Smart Museum of Chicago (University of Chicago). In Japanese art, the carp represents good luck and good fortune. ABOUT THE ARTIST Koson Ohara...

Shoko Uemura, 'Inside the Flowers (Java Sparrow and Peach Blossoms)', color woodcut, c. 1950s, edition 300. Signed in ink with the artist’s red seal beneath. A superb impression, with fresh, delicate colors, on cream wove Japan paper; the full sheet with margins (9/16 to 1 3/8 inches), in excellent condition. Archivally sleeved, unmatted. Image size 12 3/4 x 18 1/2 inches (324 x 470 mm); sheet size 14 3/4 x 20 3/16 inches (375 x 513 mm). Published by The Momose Print Company of Tokyo. ABOUT THE ARTIST Uemura Shoko (1902-2001) was the son of the famous shin-hanga artist Uemura Shoen...

William Robinson Leigh, 'Foul Rope (Left)', etching, c. 1920, edition unknown but small. Signed in pencil and signed in the plate, lower left. A superb, richly-inked impression, in dark brown ink, on buff wove Umbria paper, the full sheet with margins (1 1/2 to 2 3/4 inches); slight toning at the sheet edges, otherwise in excellent condition. Very scarce. Archivally matted to museum standards, unframed. Image size 14 7/8 x 11 15/16 inches (378 x 303 mm); sheet size 20 3/8 x 15 3/8 inches (518 x 391 mm). ABOUT THE ARTIST Born near Falling Waters, West Virginia, on a plantation a year after the Civil War and raised in Baltimore, William Robinson Leigh (1866 - 1955) became one of the foremost painters of the American West. His career spanning some seventy-five years, Leigh created some of the most iconic depictions of the Western landscape, with admirers referring to him as ‘The Sagebrush Rembrandt.’ The son of impoverished Southern aristocrats, Leigh received his first art training at age 14 from Hugh Newell at the Maryland Institute, where he was regarded as the best student in his class. From 1883 to 1895, he studied in Europe, mainly at the Royal Academy in Munich with Ludwig Loefftz. From 1891 to 1896, he painted six cycloramas or murals in the round, a giant German panorama. In 1896, Leigh began working as a magazine illustrator for Scribner's and Collier's Weekly Magazine in New York City. He also painted portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes. Leigh's trips to the Southwest began in 1906 when he agreed to paint the Grand Canyon with William Simpson, Santa Fe Railway advertising manager, in exchange for free transportation West. In 1907, he completed his Grand Canyon painting, which led to more commissions and an extensive painting trip through Arizona and New Mexico. These travels inspired him to paint western subjects for the next 50 years, and his primary interests were the Hopi and Navajo Indians. In 1910, he traveled to Wyoming, where he painted in Yellowstone Park and created sketches, many of which he later converted into large canvases such as ‘Lower Falls of the Yellowstone’ (1915) and ‘Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone’ (1911). In 1926, he traveled to Africa at the invitation of Carl Akeley for the American Museum of Natural History, and from this experience, wrote and illustrated 'Frontiers of Enchantment: An Artist's Adventures in Africa'. In 1933, he wrote and illustrated 'The Western Pony'. His adventures were chronicled in several popular magazines, including Life, the Saturday Evening Post, and Colliers. For many years, Grand Central Art Galleries at the Biltmore Hotel handled his work exclusively in New York. In 1953, Leigh was elected an associate member of the National Academy of Design and became a full Academician in 1955. In March 1999, the Historical Center of Cody, Wyoming, held an exhibition of his field sketches and finished works depicting his experiences near Cody early in the century. Between 1910 and 1921, when he often painted in the Carter Mountain vicinity, these years were considered pivotal to his artistic development and devotion to the Western landscape. Leigh's work is held in many museum collections of American Western art...

Antique bird egg colour woodblock , 1880, from Francis Orpen Morris’, 'A Natural History of the Nests & Eggs of British Birds', 1875. The woodblocks ...

Antique bird egg colour woodblock , 1880, from Francis Orpen Morris’, 'A Natural History of the Nests & Eggs of British Birds', 1875. The woodblocks ...

Antique bird egg colour woodblock , 1880, from Francis Orpen Morris’, 'A Natural History of the Nests & Eggs of British Birds', 1875. The woodblocks ...

This is an original hand-colored folio edition John James Audubon engraving entitled "Esquimaux Curlew", Folio, Pl. CCVIII", No. 42, Plate 208, from Audubon's "Birds of America". It was engraved, printed and colored in London by Robert Havell, Jr. in 1834. It depicts a male and a female Esquimaux Curlew birds...