<b>GATEWAY TO MING TOMBS</b> / Charles Bartlett1919<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

Charles Bartlett was an English painter and printmaker who first traveled to Asia from 1913–1917. In 1915, Bartlett met the Japanese publisher and founder of Shin Hanga, Watanabe Shōzaburo. Shortly after their acquittance, Watanabe hired Bartlett to produce 21 woodblock print designs. Their collaboration resulted in a great success for Watanabe, who desired to revitalize woodblock print production in Edo-period Japan. Bartlett returned to Japan in 1919 and was hired once again by Watanabe to create an additional sixteen woodblock print designs.

Bartlett produced a diverse body of work for the founder of Shin Hanga, reflecting the artist’s extensive travels throughout Asia as well as his adopted home of Hawaii. Bartlett’s print designs added to Japanese prints’ subject matter and established the commercial viability for foreign, non-Japanese, scenes.

This stunning design showcases the old marble gateway on the path to the Ming Tombs, where the Emperors of the Ming Dynasty are at rest near Beijing, China. It is interesting to note that Bartlett chose to highlight the gateway and not the more robust structures that actually house the remains. Bartlett’s design highlights the delicate and ornate arched forms and showcases them set against an expansive horizon. Aside from the stunning archways, the success of this design lies in the artist’s use of color and the manner in which this impression was printed. The stunning soft lavender sky creates a wonderful dome-like backdrop that highlights the arches’ ornate gold, green, and red colors. The background’s sprawling mountainous landscape is executed in blue hues that skillfully fade as they meet the horizon line—the strengthening green and oatmeal tones of the foreground usher in the darker, richer colors of evening.

Connoisseur's Note

This Bartlett design from 1919 is an exceedingly rare work. The great Kanto earthquake of 1923 destroyed the original Watanabe print shop and studio, including the printing blocks and unsold inventory for this design. Only impressions of this design sold before the earthquake and removed from Tokyo survived the earthquake and ensuing fires that consumed the city. This work’s desirability is further bolstered by the red crayon signature at the bottom margin, as well as its excellent state of preservation, particularly the print’s lush and vivid colors.