Catalog: Vintage Arts: Regional Art: Asian: Japanese: Woodblock Prints (748)

Takahashi Shotei
Drawing up seawater under moonlight.
The figures are engaged in saltmaking, likely at Suma Beach
Date: pre-1936.
Size: Approximately 7.5 x 5.25 inches.
Shotei's Rakutei seal at left.
Reference: S-50 in Shotei catalog.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent. Pencil notes on back.

Kawase Hasui
Temple in Snow
Date: ca 1930s.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Size: 7.25 x 5.0 inches.
Condition: Excellent. Tipped at top edge to original sheet.
This print does not appear in Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints. We could find only one other example.

Tsuchiya Koitsu
Port Tomo, May 1939
Size: Chuban. Approximately 10.0 x 7.5 inches.
Publisher: Takemura Hideo
Koitsu catalogue no.: TK-TM-54
Condition: Tipped at top to original cardstock. Very light foxing.

Elizabeth Keith (1887-1956)
Chinese Matriarch, Soochow
Date: 1934.
Sheet size: 17.625 x 13.625 inches. Image size: 13.25 x 11.75 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Signed and titled in pencil by the artist.
Medium: Colored etching.
Provenance: Henry McBride collection.
Condition: Upper right corner margin crease...

Takahashi Shotei (Hiroaki)
Moonrise at Tokumochi
Date: Pre-1936.
Chuban. Approximately 10 x 7 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo. No. 197 in 1936 Watanabe catalog.
White 6 mm Watanabe seal at lower right.
Artist's seal lower left.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Slight fading. Paper residue at back bottom margin.

Takahashi Shotei (1871-1945)
Snow at Asakusa Kannon-do
Date: Pre-1936.
Size: Mitsugiri-ban. Approximately 15.0 x 6.75 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Reference: M-22 in Shotei catalog.
Provenance: From the collection of Canadian missionary Sybil Courtice, who was in Japan from the early 20th century up until WWII.
Condition: Excellent.

Takahashi Shotei
Fuji from a restng-booth
Date: pre-1936.
Size: Approximately 7.75 x 5.25 inches.
Shotei seal at right.
Reference: S-6 in Shotei catalog.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Very faint diagonal crease in sky. Pencil note on back.

Kawase Hasui
Onshi Park, Shiba
Date: 1937.
First edition with Watanabe E seal (used 1932-1942).
In this edition, the rain is overprinted with silver mica.
Size: Oban. Approximately 15.75 x 10.75 inches.
Reference: Hotei #422.
Medum: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.
Hasui's biographer "Narazaki writes: 'An ancient pine tree at the side of a pond; it conveys the brooding mood of a bleak nocturnal downpour...

Kawase Hasui
Bird's Eye View of Kiyomizu Temple in Snow
Date: 1930s.
Size: Approximately 5.675 x 3.675 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Artist's oval seal at lower right.
Reference: Hotei #Hp-59.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.
This marginless print is from a mid-century collection that included another marginless Hasui print.
Most examples are found with margins, so it may have been trimmed or issued in this state.

Ohara Koson (Shoson)
Three Red Carp, water plant above
Size: Yoko o-tanzaku. Approximately 15.25 x 6.75 inches.
Date: ca. 1920s-1930s. "Paris, August 1939" noted in pencil on the verso in French.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Reference: S39.3 and Watanabe W36-571 in Crows, Cranes and Camellias: The Natural World of Ohara Koson (Reigle Newland).
Condition: Excellent.

Ito Yuhan
Evening at Miyajima
Date: 1930s. A pre-war or early postwar edition.
Size: Oban. Approximately 16.0 x 10.5 inches.
Publisher: Nishinomiya Yosaku. Seal at left margin.
Artist's signature at lower right.
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.

Kawase Hasui
Rain at Shuzenji Hot Spring
Size: Oban. Approximately 15.25 x 10.25 inches.
Date: 1933
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo. Bears the Watanabe "E seal" used between 1932-42 and consistent with a first edition.
Condition: Excellent with slight fading.

Tsuchiya Koitsu
Lake Chuzenji in Nikko
Size: 5.625 x 3.625 inches.
Publisher: Takemura Hideo.
Date: 1930s.
Koitsu's Shinsei seal at lower left.
Koitsu catalog no.: TK-TM-121.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Faint mark in snow near title.

Kawase Hasui
A Yangban (Korean Official)
Date: August 1935 (First and only edition)
Size: Dai-oban. Approximately 17 x 12 inches.
Signed and sealed by the artist.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Reference: Hotei #357.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.

Ohara Shoson (Koson)
Peacock and Peahen in a Flowering Cherry Tree
Size: Approximately 5.5 x 3.5 inches.
Date: ca. 1930s.
Shoson seal at right.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Reference: AS.30 in Crows, Cranes and Camellias: The Natural World of Ohara Koson (Reigle Newland).
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.

Hiroshi Yoshida
Temple in the Wood
Date: 1940.
Size: Oban. Approximately 16.0 x 10.75 inches.
Signed and sealed in the image. Titled and signed in pencil.
Jizuri seal at upper left margin indicating self-printing by the artist.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Toned paper. Corner margins have heavy creases.
Dedicated in top margin: "Captain and Mrs Tibbitts, Wishing a Merry X'mas and a Happy New Year - Gozo and Shiori"

Eijiro Kobayashi
Evening Cool on Sumida River. Sepia version.
Series: Hasegawa Night Scenes.
Date: 1938-1960.
Eijiro seal at lower right.
Size: Approximately 9.75 x 7.25 inches.
Publisher: Nishinomiya Yosaku. No. 1244 in Hasegawa catalog.
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.

Kawase Hasui (1883-1957)
Kozu, Osaka
Souvenirs of Travels, Third Series.
Date: 1924.
Size: Oban. Approximately 15.50 x 10.25 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo. Watanabe C seal at right margin, indicating printing between 1929 and 1942.
Reference: Hotei #118.
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso.
Condition: Lovely mauve horizon...