<b>WOMAN IN RAIN</b> / Fritz Capelari1915<b>SOLD</b></em>

Details

The publisher Watanabe Shōzaburo started his enterprise reproducing well-known Ukiyo-e designs during the late Meiji period. Seeing an opportunity to produce original work and revitalize the art of woodblock prints, he first hired the Austrian artist Fritz Capelari. Producing more than a dozen designs for Watanabe, Capelari is credited with being the first Shin Hanga artist and thus creating a blueprint for combining Western aesthetic concerns with Japanese motifs that influenced both Watanabe and his future stable of artists.

 In this charming print, Capelari invokes old Japan as he depicts a kimono-clad woman complete with wooden geta (traditional wooden shoes) and an old-fashioned bamboo-and-paper umbrella as she makes her way through the rain. The wind makes her steps more cumbersome as we see the gust’s force in the trailing rain and the aggressive bend in the willow tree’s branches in the background.

Though the print is subdued, the contrast of colors and textures in the woman’s attire adds complexity and interest to this subtle but compelling design.

Connoisseur's Note

Woman in Rain, 1915, is an exceedingly rare work. The great Kanto earthquake of 1923 destroyed the original Watanabe print shop and studio along with the printing blocks for this design as well as the unsold inventory. Only impressions of this design sold before the earthquake and removed from Tokyo survived the earthquake and ensuing fires that consumed the city.