Private Collection of Fine Japanese Prints
Private Collection of Fine Japanese Prints
KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849) THE WATERWHEEL AT ONDEN (ONDEN NO SUISHA) | EDO PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY
Lot Closed
October 8, 01:07 PM GMT
Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
KATSUSHIKA HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
EDO PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY
THE WATERWHEEL AT ONDEN (ONDEN NO SUISHA)
woodblock print, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei), signed saki no Hokusai litsu hitsu, published by Nishimuraya Yohachi (Eijudo), censor's seal kiwame, publisher's mark Eijudo, blue outline, circa 1832
Horizontal oban:
26.3 x 38.7 cm, 10⅜ x 15¼ in.
To view Shipping Calculator, please click here
Timothy Clark, 100 Views of Mount Fuji (London, 2001), no. 59
Timothy Clark, Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave (London, 2017), n. 59
Four adults work tirelessly in the foreground of this composition and are the focus of the scene, set in the agricultural village of Onden which once bordered the Shibuya river. Water cascades down from the waterwheel, its swirling form contrasting against the flatness of the surrounding fields, which have been recently harvested. A boy, tugging at his turtle, faces towards Mount Fuji, its snow-capped summit rising majestically in the distance and its imposing presence emphasised by the diagonal and perspectival line created by the positioning of the mill. In this print, with its palette of blues, greens and yellows, Hokusai juxtaposes the world of hard agricultural labour with the peace and serenity of nature.
For another impression in the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, see accession no. 21.6767.