<b>KAMAKURA</b>Charles Bartlett1916<b>SOLD</b></em>
ARTIST: Charles Bartlett (1869-1940)
TITLE: Kamakura
MEDIUM: Woodblock print
DATE: 1916
DIMENSIONS: 9 7/8 x 15 1/8 inches
CONDITION: Excellent—no problems to note
LITERATURE: Honolulu Academy of Arts, A Printmaker in Paradise: The Art and Life of Charles Bartlett, pl. 36
NOTE: The circular red seal at the lower-left corner attests it is an early printing of the design.
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SOLD
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Details
Charles Bartlett was an English painter and printmaker who first traveled to Asia from 1913 to 1917. In 1915, Bartlett met the Japanese publisher and founder of Shin Hanga, Shōzaburo Watanabe. Shortly after their acquaintance, Watanabe hired Bartlett to produce 21 woodblock print designs. Their collaboration resulted in great success for Watanabe, who desired to revitalize woodblock print production in Edo-period Japan. Bartlett returned to Japan in 1919 and was hired once again by Watanabe to create an additional sixteen woodblock print designs.
Sitting in meditative repose, the Kamakura Buddha lays at the center of Bartlett's composition. All the while, cherry trees erupt in bloom amid the comings and goings of travelers and pilgrims. The scene is serene and beautiful—an iconic design that instantly captures the charm of old Japan. It is a twist of irony that Western artists, such as Bartlett, were the first to produce Shin Hanga designs for the originator of the movement, the publisher Watanabe.
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 and removed from Tokyo survived the earthquake and ensuing fires that consumed the city. The crayon signature further bolsters this work's desirability at the bottom margin as well as its excellent state of preservation, particularly the print's lush and vivid colors.
