<b>A HOODED WOMAN</b> / Ito Shinsui1950<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

A Hooded Woman, 1950 is part of Ito Shinsui's ambitious double-oban sized postwar designs. Though the subject is familiar, the larger scale provides for a different, perhaps more painterly effect, allowing the eye to wander more freely across a larger space. The viewer is rewarded with the myriad of printing effects possible in this medium, including the soft texture that wonderfully captures the atmospheric quality of snow with bokashi and baren effects throughout the umbrella and background. In sharp contrast, the woman's garments are printed in bold flat colors. The depth of the dark purple in the hood is printed with such saturation that the tone animates the figure forward toward the viewer. The lighter color purple used for the outer kimono is printed with a woodgrain pattern (only present on the earliest impressions) that reflects the quiet dim light that freshly fallen snow holds so beautifully well. The silver mica highlights in the white, next to the blue stripes, are the icing on the cake.

Connoisseur's Note

Ito Shinsui's post-war bijin-ga are a sweet spot of value for collectors, as they are priced significantly less than his pre-war prints and in stark contrast to the small fortunes his pre-earthquake designs demand. Given the larger scale, these postwar designs show quite well in a contemporary setting and often contain more deluxe printing effects such as mica, gofun, and strong baren effects as is the case with this design.