Details

Ito Shinsui is synonymous with bijin-ga, or images of beautiful women. He is also known for landscapes produced throughout his career, and in particular, some outstanding examples executed before the 1923 earthquake.

This complete set of Eight Views of Omi is a wonderful example of Shinsui’s artistic ability at producing a diversified body of work featuring the Japanese landscape. The set is known for its varied designs demonstrating Shinsui’s agility at capturing a diversity of atmospheric environments, as night, rain, and snow are prominently featured. As pre-earthquake designs, the quality of printing demonstrated within these impressions is superb and consistent with the unmatched artistry of all pre-earthquake Watanabe published impressions.

Connoisseur's Note

This series was produced in a limited edition of 200 impressions. This rare and complete matched numbered set is stamped on the reverse of each print as 39/200. As with all pre-earthquake prints, these designs are among the rarest works in shin hanga, as the earthquake destroyed Watanabe’s studio along with the original blocks and unsold inventory. Only prints sold before the earthquake and removed from Tokyo, as most of the city was destroyed by the ensuing fires, survived. Further bolstering the desirability of the set is its near-pristine condition—the prints were kept together in archival folders, never framed or displayed for extended periods.