S
otheby’s Japanese Woodblock Prints Including the Sokolov Collection features an extensive selection of prints from the dawn of colour woodblock printing in the late 18th century to printmakers of the modern day. Graceful bijn-ga [prints of beauties] such as Torii Kiyonaga’s idyllic Intoxicating Flowers of Asukayama and Kitagawa Utamaro’s elegant Firefly Cage in the Evening are followed by fine examples from Katsushika Hokusai and his age, with prints from the renowned Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and poetic surimono by Totoya Hokkei.
A selection of striking prints from the Meiji period include Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s designs from the series One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, and prints by Kawanabe Kyosai, such as the jocular triptych Comic One Hundred Turns of the Rosary.
The sale culminates in a wide range of works from the Shin-hanga and Sosaku-hanga movements – counting impressions from Ito Shinsui’s beauties and Kawae Hasui’s landscapes, to the bold compositions of Kiyoshi Saito and Azechi Umetaro.
