<b>SEIROKA HOSPITAL, TSUKIJI</b> / Unichi Hiratsuka1923<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, a catastrophic event in Japanese history, profoundly impacted the realms of photography and printmaking. In its aftermath, photographers documented the widespread destruction, capturing haunting images of the devastation and human resilience, reflecting a new era of social consciousness and realism in Japanese photography. The disaster also played a pivotal role in revitalizing traditional woodblock printmaking, inspiring artists to create powerful and emotionally charged prints that depicted the earthquake's aftermath, offering a bridge between the past and present by blending traditional techniques with contemporary subject matter. This seismic event thus left an indelible mark on Japanese art, pushing it towards greater social engagement and a fusion of modern and traditional artistic sensibilities.

This design illustrates the rubble that was once the hospital near the old fish market, Tsukiji. Piles of rubble surround the hollow ruins of a large building. Nearby, the charred remains of trees populate the bleak landscape. The starkness of the scene is underscored by the roughness with which the artist has carved out the block of the design, leaving sections of sharp, jagged edges and smears while other portions of the block are completely cut away leaving lingering voids. 

Connoisseur's Note

Hiratuka produced this series for the publisher Yamaguchi Hisayoshi of Hanga no ie. The print is the first state of the design with the publisher’s label on the reverse. Later impressions executed by the artist exist in differing colorations and lack the publisher’s label.