<b>NIGHT SCENE AT SUMIDA RIVER</b> / Kobayashi Kiyochikac. 1930<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

The Meiji-era artist, Kiyochika Kobayashi is known to have bridged Edo-period Ukiyo-e with early 20th–century artistic innovation. His work synthesized western artistic traditions with a self-awareness of the rapidly changing culture that he occupied, paving the way for the Hanga movements that followed him.

In the 1930s, several reworkings of Kiyochika designs were issued by the Shima Art Company. These prints were produced with the highest quality materials available by exceedingly talented artisans. The results were striking Shin Hanga designs that demonstrated a beauty, simplicity, and nostalgia for old Japan.

The power of this design is in the depiction of the landscape’s atmosphere. The impression is saturated with thick applications of pigment in discrete areas that bring the eye to points of interest such as the depth of the blue in the sky and the subtle bokashi that follows from it. The subdued yellows that originate from the windows in the homes across the shore diffuse in the water and meld with moonlight that floods from overhead, advancing an ethereal mood. The scene is poignant. We are left to admire this design, as the figures in silhouette are left transfixed by it.

Connoisseur's Note

Robert O. Muller, the famed Shin Hanga collector, directly acquired this work from the publisher. The print was never framed nor exposed to light for prolonged periods. The print is in a pristine state of preservation and appears as fresh and vibrant as the day it was printed.