Landscape to City: A Collection of 20th Century Japanese Prints
Landscape to City: A Collection of 20th Century Japanese Prints
Lot Closed
November 18, 02:44 PM GMT
Estimate
2,000 - 3,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
Ito Shinsui (1898-1972)
Fragrance of the Hot Springs (Yu no ka)
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), publisher's circular seal to the lower left Watanabe (Watanabe Shozaburo), dated Showa gonen aki (Autumn, 1930), limited edition seal to verso Nihyaku goju mai zeppan, dai hyaku yonjuichi ban (250 limited edition, number 141) and rectangular seal Watanabe
Vertical dai-oban: 41 x 26 cm., 16⅛ x 10¼ in.
A woman washing by the hot springs rests her hand on a tall rock with a bough of autumnal maple leaves overhanging. The heady atmosphere of the springs is evoked by the vaporous air emitted by the sulphurous waters. Lawrence Smith describes the overall feeling of the design as somewhat akin to a Renoir at first glance, but points out that the modelling of the rockwork is very much rooted in the Far Eastern painting tradition.1
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 2002.161.75, go to:
https://collections.artsmia.org/art/62386/fragrance-of-the-hot-spring-ito-shinsui
1. Lawrence Smith, The Japanese Print since 1900: Old Dreams and New Visions, (London, 1983), no. 35.
