Suzuki Harunobu (1724−1770), Cool Mountain Gust of the Fan (Ōgi no seiran), color woodblock print: chūban tate-e, 10⅞ x 8 in. (27.6 x 20.3 cm), 1766, Series: Eight Views of the Parlor Room (Zashiki hakkei), unsigned, publisher: Shōkakudō
Japanese Prints and Paintings, 1720−1820
March 14 – 21, 2025
Asia Week Hours: Mar 14-15 & 17-21, 11am-5pm (otherwise by appointment)
17 East 76th Street, 3rd Floor
Sebastian Izzard LLC Asian Art is pleased to present Japanese Prints and Paintings, 1720−1820 during this season’s Asia Week New York. The paintings and prints in this exhibition begin in the 1720s and end approximately a century later. Many of the technical developments and changes that took place during that time are covered. The most important of these, the introduction of full color printing, is represented by a fine group prints by Suzuki Harunobu, as well as examples by his contemporaries. Harunobu was a late bloomer, and the prints included here survey the last years of his life, beginning with the first print in his ground-breaking series Zashiki hakkei (Eight views of the parlor room).
The end of the 1760s saw idealized portraits of actors replaced by ones more grounded in realistic portrayal, which are represented here by fine works by Ippitsusai Bunchō and Katsukawa Shunshō.
Interest in imported European ideas and images manifested itself in the introduction of uki-e, or “floating pictures,” which allowed landscape artists to move from traditional isometric perspective to indicate depth and volume, to single-point perspective and low picture planes. Examples by Utagawa Toyoharu and other landscapes in the exhibition indicate just how pervasive this interest was.
The golden era of the 1790s includes a very fine example of Tōshūsai Sharaku’s portrait of Segawa Kikunojō III as Ōshizu, performed in the fifth month of 1794. One of the artist’s finest portraits, this specimen has exceptionally well-preserved color, allowing the viewer insights into Sharaku’s skills as a colorist.
The exhibition concludes with a fine painting by Kubo Shunman, who was a contemporary of both Utamaro and Toyokuni. Shunman was deeply involved with the literary world of his period, and his late painting of a Yoshiwara courtesan celebrating the Hassaku festival held during the summer is accompanied by a text by the noted literatus Kameda Bōsai, detailing the history of the event.
Be sure to visit the gallery to take in all these magnificent works of art for yourself!
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