Landscape to City: A Collection of 20th Century Japanese Prints
Landscape to City: A Collection of 20th Century Japanese Prints
Ito Shinsui (1898-1972) | After a Bath (Yoku go) | Showa period, 20th century
Lot Closed
November 18, 02:45 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Ito Shinsui (1898-1972)
After a Bath (Yoku go)
Showa period, 20th century
woodblock print, from the series First Collection of Modern Beauties (Gendai bijin shu dai isshu), signed Shinsui ga (Pictured by Shinsui), sealed Shinsui, publisher's circular seal Watanabe (Watanabe Shozaburo), dated Showa gonen natsu (summer, 1930), hand-numbered limited edition seal to the reverse Nihyaku gojumai zeppan, dai hyaku hachijuyo ban (limited edition of 250, number 148), and a publisher's red rectangular seal Watanabe
Vertical dai oban: 43 x 27.5 cm., 16¾ x 10¾ in.
A young lady kneels as she wrings water from a small towel. She wears a light blue yukata decorated with the classical literary motif of scattered maple leaves floating along the Tatsuta River.
The background is embellished with undulating circular line work known as goma-zuri [lit. sesame seed printing]. The technique is thought to have been developed by the printer Ono Yutaro and was first employed experimentally in Hashiguchi Goyo’s (1880-1921) [see Lots 36 and 37] print published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962) in 1915, Bathing. First, the printer over-dampens the mulberry paper used for printing. The bamboo rubbing pad, known as a baren, which is normally used to adhere the pigment to the paper, is turned on its side and is gently applied in a circling motion to produce the effect seen here. This motif became a staple of shin-hanga and has been said to evoke the abstract brushwork of postimpressionistic painting.
For the series First Collection of Modern Beauties, Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962) limited the editions to two hundred and fifty, designating two hundred of these to subscribers and fifty to be sold at his store. When the final design was complete in July 1931, Shinsui began work on a further series on the same theme Second Collection of Modern Beauties (Gendai bijin shu dai ni shu) in August of the same year.
For a similar impression of the same print in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, accession number 2002.161.86, go to:
https://collections.artsmia.org/art/62366/after-the-bath-ito-shinsui