<b>HARIMAYA CHO</b> / Hanjiro Sakamoto1925<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

Like Yamamoto Kanae and Ishii Hakutei, Sakamoto Hanjiro was part of the first wave of Sosaku Hanga artists who contributed designs to the art magazine Hosun. Also like his early counterparts, Sakamoto traveled widely in Europe in this early period. However, after returning to Japan in the late 1920s, Sakamoto primarily dedicated his career to painting in Western-style oils but happened to produce a limited number of Sosaku Hanga. This print is one of those rare exceptions executed amid Sakamoto’s painting career. In this design, the cosmopolitan Sakamoto presents us with a bustling night scene bursting with activity, as people cross the street, negotiating the path of oncoming cars and trams. The print is bright, done in the palette of the relatively new streetlights that hung overhead. The perspective is from an elevated vantage point. Perhaps Sakamoto designed this print from a second-floor café, as he looked out the window following the activity of those who passed nearby.

Connoisseur's Note

As a Sosaku Hanga work, this design lacks a key-block outline and is executed with quick and confident cuts across the plane of the printing blocks. The colors are printed onto each other rather loosely in a highly expressive manner similar to European expressionist printmaking. This expressive carving and free, spontaneous printing serve to heighten the drama of the scene and advance the cause of the Sosaku Hanga movement. Further, this design also provides an excellent account of Japan's rise toward modernism, and as such, the early representation of automobiles and public transportation make it that much more appealing to collectors.