<b>MIONO MATSUBARA</b> / Charles Bartlett1916<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

Majestic Mt. Fuji towers near the center of the piece in a blue hue of the growing evening while sailboats streak through the composition. Blue dominates Bartlett’s design, showcasing the various tonalities Watanabe’s skilled craftsmen could produce with a single pigment. This impression’s masterful use of bokashi, or color gradation, accentuates the drama of the scene’s dying light and is further punctuated by yellow, orange, and red highlights, which advance the fisherman’s urgency to return home by nightfall. The deployed sailboat masts playfully echo Fuji’s imposing peak.

This serene composition owes much to Watanabe's printers, whose skill matched Bartlett's artistic vision, as this impression's printing affects accurately captures the astonishing beauty of twilight. Every aspect of the composition is printed with a texture that presents the scene in a soft, diffused light, where the gathering mist rises to meet the darkening sky overhead.

Connoisseur's Note

This Bartlett design from 1916 is an exceedingly rare work. The great Kanto earthquake of 1923 destroyed the original Watanabe print shop and studio, including the printing blocks and unsold inventory for this design. Only impressions of this design sold before the earthquake and removed from Tokyo survived the earthquake and ensuing fires that consumed the city. This work's desirability is further bolstered by the red crayon signature at the bottom margin, as well as its excellent state of preservation, particularly the print's lush and vivid colors.

This print is a very early impression, as evidenced by the stunning subtle printing, the artist's signature in red crayon, and the circular series seal at the lower right corner.