<b>TSUKIJI AKASHI-CHO</b> / Kaburagi Kiyokata1928$7,000</em>

Details

Prior to this work, Kaburagi Kiyokata was more known as a Meiji-period painter and Kuchi-e artist whose frontispiece designs populated many of Japan’s most popular romance novels. This design, originally produced as a painting, was exhibited in the eighth Teiten of 1927. The painting received immediate acclaim, which heralded the artist's fully mature and individualistic style, a fitting representation of Taisho-period Nihonga. Shortly thereafter, in 1929, Kiyokata was appointed as a member of the Imperial Academy.

Following the successful showing of the painting, the design was effectively translated into a woodblock printed work, as offered here. This print is a faithful rendering of this exceptional design. The work features a beautiful woman whose longing gaze peers past the viewer. The background is rendered in a light, almost dream-like, quality displaying two docked ships at Tsukiji (Tokyo’s main fish market). This ethereal inset appears as a vision or a daydream—perhaps the woman is concerned for her love (the ring on her finger may suggest husband), who may be a fisherman out looking for the day's catch. The fence and morning glories trailing up the fence's contours help anchor the design and bring the viewer's attention back from the shadowy musing of the top left.

This print was executed in an unusual large-scale composition, which faithful invokes the kakemono format of the original painting and grants the viewer greater access to the emotional impact of this stunning phycological scene.

Connoisseur's Note

This impression is the first state of the design. The work is a faithful rendering of the original painting’s coloration. A slightly later state was produced with a stronger blue pigmentation in the woman’s inner kimono as well as darker tones in the design elements at the lower right of the composition. The first-state woodblock printed work, and the painting was recently featured in a 2019 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art Tokyo (MOMAT), alongside two other hanging scrolls produced two years later (see advertising for this exhibition below).

This early impression is in an exceptional state of preservation with sharp and vivid colors. The design is one of the most important works produced by the artist and has become an icon of the Tashio era Shin Hanga movement.