Self-carved, self-printed; signed in white at lower right, Kiyoshi Saito, titled, numbered and dated in pencil on bottom margin, NEW YORK (B) 19/50, 1963, with artist’s paper label attached to verso, self-carved, self-printed KIYOSHI SAITO, 1963
27 1/8 by 21 1/8 in., 69 x 53.5 cm
In January 1956 Saito was invited by the State Department to visit the United States, a trip which was extended an additional three months sponsored by the Asia Foundation. During the first half of his travels, Saito visited Seattle, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Houston, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, Boston, New Work and Philadelphia, with a hectic schedule of exhibiting and teaching at various universities art departments and art museums. For the second three months he stayed for an extended period as an artist in residence at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where the Asia Foundation was based. A subsequent trip to Mexico was cut short when Saito suffered a heat stroke, and his visit concluded back in Seattle at the home of George Tsutakawa, a professor of sculputre at the Univeristy of Washington who hosted Saito upon his initial arrival. In 1959 Saito visited France and Switzerland at the invitation of American businessman Cornelias Vander Starr (1892-1968), the founder of what would become the insurance giant AIG and whose namesake foundation has generously funded numerous grants worldwide including the C.V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University in New York, and a second located at the University of California at Berkely. Saito returned to states in 1962 and an exhibition of his work in New York was arranged by Starr at the Madison Avenue gallery owned by Lee Nordness, a leading force in promoting craft art in the United States. While Saito had lamented that his busy schedule during his first tour of the states did not allow sufficient opportunity for sketching, he was more careful during his later trips abroad and was able to produce woodblock prints upon his return to his studio in Japan, including this evocative view of the New York skyline.
REFERENCES:
Saito Kiyoshi Gagyo (Saito Kiyoshi’s Work), Abe Shuppan, 1990, p. 177, no. 247
Rhiannon Paget, Saito Kiyoshi: Graphic Awakening, The Ringling Museum of Art, 2021, pp. 8-11; p. 178 (on Saito’s travels)
Self-carved, self-printed; with paper watermark, Jun. Sekino, artist’s signature within the composition, Jun. Sekino, numbered, titled, signed, and dated in pencil on the bottom margin, a/p (artist’s proof), Nyuyoku, Jun. Sekino ’60, 1960
14 1/8 by 25 in., 36 x 63.5 cm
In 1958 Sekino was invited along with a group of arists and writers by the Rockefeller Foundation and the American Japan Society to visit the United States, travelling to New York where he taught at the Pratt Institute, located in Brooklyn. He returned again to the states in 1963 as a recipient of a Ford Foundation grant to teach woodblock printing at the University of Washington, Oregon State University, and the University of Oregon. He made a third visit to the United States in the summer of 1969 where he taught at Oregon State University, where his oldest son Junpei was a graduate student in mathematics.
This scarce view featuring the Chrysler Building and the newly-finished United Nations complex framed by sunflowers as seen from across the East River at Queensboro Park is one of five compositions the artist produced of the Manhattan skyline following his first trip to the states. There is another utilzing sunflowers, although the blossoms are positioned more prominently in contrast to the distant cityscape. He also captured the hustle and bustle of cars zipping around the ramps beneath the Brooklyn Bridge (cue the jazz music). The Museum of Modern Art saw fit to acquire the ominous New York and Graveyard (1959), one of two similar works depicting the skyline as seen from the Calvary Cemetary with a sea of headstones in the foreground mimicing the distant totems of skyscrapers, which they included in an exhibition 1968, Manhattan Observed, which included prints by a wide array of artists such as George Bellows, Paul Cadmus, Childe Hassam, David Hockney, Edward Hopper, Armin Landeck, Martin Lewis, Robert Rauschenberg, and Larry Rivers.
References:
Robert and Yoko McClain, Thirty-Six Portraits by Sekino Jun’ichiro, University of Oregon Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon, 1977, pp. 6-8 (artist’s bio)
Usher P. Coolidge, Japanese Twentieth Century Prints from the Collection of C. Adrian Rubel, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 1966, cat. no. 41
Katsuko Sekino, Sekino Jun’ichiro hanga sakuhin shu (Jun-ichiro Sekino the Prints), 1997, p. 131, no. 260
William S. Lieberman, Manhattan Observed: Selections of Drawings and Prints, Museum of Modern Art, New York, March 22 – May 12, 1968, exh. cat., p. 36, (New York and Graveyard, alternate title, Graveyard in New York, ref. no. 670.65 [RP 674])
Harvard Art Museum, object no. 1974.102.59; titled Sunflowers and Skyscrapers (Flowers and New York)
Self-carved, self-printed; titled, signed and dated in pencil along the bottom margin, Light Mirror, Water Mirror, AP (artist’s proof), A. Uchima, with artist’s circular monogram, AU, 1977
21 1/2 by 30 3/8 in., 54.5 by 77.2 cm
This print is from the last major series the artist undertook before suffering from a serious stroke in 1982, when he was in the prime of his life at the age of only 61. Although over a six-month period he was able to recover some mobility, lingering effects of the stroke forced him to all but abandon the production of woodblock prints.
Three years later a retrospective exhibition of his work was held at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where Uchima had taught for 20 years (1962-82). The exhibition catalogue included an essay by Una Johnson (1905-1997), the Curator Emerita of Prints at the Brooklyn Museum, in which she commented at length regarding the series: “It skillfully records in strong abstract images the progression of a visual diary of considerable scope. Composed of layers and remembered landscapes, it is set within great depths of space where intensified colors are burnished by time and assume the radiance of light. Dark columns stand within other areas of pale or muted colors to create a subtle interweaving of abstract forms.”
In the same essay, Johnson further contextualizes by linking the abstracts to ukiyo-e landscape traditions: “The Forest Byobu series becomes a vast panorama of the world of nature – its changing seasons, its colors, sounds, fragrances, shifting light and its endless complexities. These elaborate compositions project the artist’s imaginative and contemplative probing of abstract images through the enveloping regions of space and time. Multiple perspectives are guided by reflections and refractions of light as it illuminates objects or a universe as they move in uncharged orbits. The altering of forms and their reconstruction, their balances and imbalances and sudden break in a color sequence play over the supportive structures to create elements of change, surprise and mystery. They may suggest in intuitive terms a 20th century artist’s tribute to those elegant Views of Edo and the many lively views along the great Tokaido or Eastern Road leading from Tokyo that so enchanted Hokusai and Hiroshige in the earlier decades of the 19th century”
Five years earlier, Johnson had chosen this design, Light Mirror, Water Mirror, as one of the images featured on the cover of her seminal book, American Prints and Printmakers: A Chronicle of Over 400 Artists and Their Prints from 1900 to the Present, published in 1980 by Doubleday.
PROVENANCE:
Anju and Yoko Uchima Collection
REFERENCES:
Una Johnson, American Prints and Printmakers: A Chronicle of Over 400 Artists and Their Prints from 1900 to the Present, 1980, p. 228, no. 28 (two page spread), and cover illustration
Dulin Gallery of Art, 14th Dulin National Print and Drawing Exhibition, Knoxville, Tennessee, May 16 – June 22, 1980
Hunterdon Art Center, Reflections, Images (with Toshiko Uchima and Isamu Noguchi), Clinton, New Jersey, December 7 – January 18, 1981
Hanga Geijutsu, Summer 1982, Abe Publishing, p. 217
Una Johnson, Ansei Uchima: A Retrospective, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, April 2 – 28, 1985
Associated American Artists, Ansei Uchima Color Woodcuts, New York, September 7 – October 1, 1988
Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 69th Exhibition of the Japan Print Association, Tokyo, Japan, April 6 – 21, 2001
Worcester Museum of Art, object no. 2005.262
Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum, Ansei Uchima: Symphony of Colors and Wind, Naha, Japan, September 12 – November 8, 2014
Signed in kanji at lower right, Bin-ni, followed by artist’s red circular seal, BINNIE, with print series and title in cartouche on the upper right, Junishi no Usagi, and numbered, and signed in pencil on bottom margin, 5/100, Paul Binnie, 2024
Hosoban 13 by 5 3/4 in., 33.1 by 14.5 cm
This is the second design in Binnie’s Japanese Zodiac series. The print features a model with tattoos that represent the Year of the Rabbit (which in the zodiac calendar precedes the dragon, featured in the first print in the series). The figure is posed against a yellow-orange background, beginning the first transition of color for the planned rainbow effect of all prints placed in order once the series is complete.
The upper tattoo is derived from an Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) print of a toy rabbit ferrying a boat, originally printed as an aka-e (red picture), produced as a lucky talisman to ward off smallpox in the 19th century. Children’s toys were popular subjects of these prints, as were images of Shoki the demon queller, as illness was often framed as the work of demons.
The lower tattoo is inspired by the 1889 print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) illustrating the Jade Rabbit and the Monkey King before a large pink moon from the One Hundred Aspects of the Moon series. Binnie has added a touch of humor in the placement of the moon in this composition, which alludes to the play on words with the English phrase ‘mooning.’ The rabbit has been reversed from Yoshitoshi’s original design to better fit the composition.
Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series: Kozu, Osaka (Tabi miyage dai sanshu: Osaka Kozu)
Signed Hasui with red artist’s seal Kawase, the title on the left margin, Osaka Kozu, followed by the date, Taisho jusannen saku (made in Taisho 13 [1924]), with publisher’s seal (Hotei ‘D,’ ca. 1929-42) on lower right margin, Hanken shoyu Watanabe Shozaburo (Copyright ownership Watanabe Shozaburo), 1924
Oban tate-e
PROVENANCE:
Neil Charles Stipanich (Alamo, California, 1948-2019)
REFERENCES:
Dorothy Blair, Modern Japanese Prints, The Toledo Museum of Art, 1930, no. 77
Narazaki Muneshige, Kawase Hasui mokuhanga shu, 1979, p. 48, no. 118
Irwin J. Pachter, Kawase Hasui and His Contemporaries, 1986, p. 50, no. 32
Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, p. 339, no. 118
Kendall H. Brown, Visions of Japan: Kawase Hasui’s Masterpieces, 2004, p. 51, no. 15
Shimada City Museum, Kawase Hasui, The Landscape Woodblock Prints of the Taisho and Showa Periods, 2005, p. 55, no. 81
Carolyn M. Putney, et. al., Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, Toledo Museum of Art, 2013, p. 136, no. 81
Hisao Shimizu, Hasui Kawase, Folk Museum of Ota City, 2013, p. 40, no. 36 (illustrated with artist’s sketchbook drawing)
The Art Institute of Chicago, Clarence Buckingham Collection, reference no. 1929.399
Honolulu Museum of Art, object no. 11788
Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series: Morning at Beppu (Tabi miyage dai sanshu: Beppu no asa)
Signed Hasui with artist’s seal Kawase, the title on the left margin, Beppu no asa, the date below, Showa sannen saku (made in Showa 3 [1928]), with publisher’s seal (Hotei ‘E,’ ca. 1931-41) on the right margin, Hanken shoyu fukyo mosha Watanabe Shozaburo (Copyright ownership, reproduction not allowed without permission, Watanabe Shozaburo), 1928
Oban tate-e 15 1/4 by 10 3/8 in., 38.6 by 26.2 cm
PROVENANCE:
Neil Charles Stipanich (Alamo, California, 1948-2019)
REFERENCES:
Dorothy Blair, Modern Japanese Prints, The Toledo Museum of Art, 1930, no. 102
Narazaki Muneshige, Kawase Hasui mokuhanga shu, 1979, p. 55 no. 145
Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, p. 353, no. 142
Shimada City Museum, Kawase Hasui, The landscape woodblock prints of the Taisho and Showa periods, 2005, p. 59, no. 89
Abe Publishing, Kawase Hasui Woodblock Prints, 2009, p. 48, no. 65
Chiba City Museum of Art, Kawase Hasui, 2013, p. 85, no. 79 (with thumbnail of original pencil sketch)
Carolyn M. Putney, et. al., Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, Toledo Museum of Art, 2013, p. 154, no. 106
Hisao Shimizu, Kawase Hasui, Folk Museum of Ota City, 2013, p. 50, no. 86 (illustrated with pencil and watercolor drawing from artist’s sketchbook)
The Art Institute of Chicago, reference no. 1990.607.784
Honolulu Museum of Art, James A. Michener Collection, object nos. 19200 & 19201
Signed Hasui with artist’s seal Kawase, with publisher’s seal (Hotei ‘D’, ca. 1929-42) on lower right margin, Hanken shoyu Watabanbe Shozaburo (Copyright ownership Watanabe Shozaburo), the title on the left margin, Ikegami Honmon-ji, followed by the date Showa rokunen ichigatsu saku (made in Showa 6 [1931], January), 1931
Oban tate-e 15 3/8 by 10 3/8 in., 38.9 by 26.2 cm
Blair records that this print required 20 color blocks, 25 impressions or pulls from the blocks (“superimposed printings”), for an initial edition of 300 prints.
PROVENANCE:
Neil Charles Stipanich (Alamo, California, 1948-2019)
REFERENCES:
Dorothy Blair, Modern Japanese Prints, The Toledo Museum of Art, 1936, no. 28
Narazaki Muneshige, Kawase Hasui mokuhanga shu, 1979, p. 107, no. 320
Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, p. 413, no. 245
Kendall H. Brown, Visions of Japan: Kawase Hasui’s Masterpieces, 2004, p. 78, no. 42
Folk Museum of Ota City, Hasui Kawase, 2007, p. 40, no. 67
Hisao Shimizu, Kawase Hasui, Folk Museum of Ota City, 2013, pp. 120-121, no. 151 (illustrated with pencil drawing from artist’s sketchbook)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, John Stewart Happer Collection, accession no. 1949.400
The Art Institute of Chicago, reference no. 1961.216
Snow at the Nezu-Gongen Shrine (Nezu Gongen no yuki)
Signed Hasui with artist’s seal Kawase, the title on the left margin, Nezu-Gongen no yuki, with publisher’s 6mm round seal (Hotei ‘A’) in lower left corner, Watanabe, first issued in 1933, this impression later, ca. 1945-55
Oban tate-e 15 1/4 by 10 3/8 in., 38.6 by 26.4 cm
Blair records that this print required 20 color blocks; 25 “superimposed printings” (pulls or impressions from the blocks), for an initial edition of 100 impressions. This was a comparatively smaller batch than Watanabe’s usual investment of at least 200 or 300 impressions of most designs indicated by Blair. It seems that the early 1930s were a period of transition for Watanabe, in 1931 Watanabe began to produce occasional editions of only 100 impressions, likely governed by the potential popularity of the design; but by 1932, editions of 100 became his more typical initial investment.
PROVENANCE:
Neil Charles Stipanich (Alamo, California, 1948-2019)
REFERENCES:
Dorothy Blair, Modern Japanese Prints, The Toledo Museum of Art, 1936, no. 69
Narazaki Muneshige, Kawase Hasui mokuhanga shu, 1979, p. 115, no. 346
Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, p. 466, no. 345
Spring Snow (Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto) (Haru no yuki [Kyoto Kiyomizu])
Signed Hasui with artist’s seal Kawase, the title on the right margin, Haru no yuki (Kyoto Kiyomizu), followed by the date, Showa shichinen shigatsu (made in Showa 7 [1932], April), with publisher’s 12 mm round ‘Do’ watermark in upper left corner and early post-war combination of in-line seals (ca. 1948-50), Hanken shoyu Doi Hangaten (Copyright reserved Doi Hangaten), followed by seals, suri (printer) Ito, and hori (carver) Katsumura, 1932
Oban tate-e 15 7/8 by 10 3/4 in., 40.4 by 27.2 cm
Unlike the skilled artisans who produced prints for Watanabe Shozaburo’s publishing house, the carvers and printers working for Doi were credited for their work on with their seals, which were impressed on individual woodblock prints. This print bears the carver seal of Katsumura Shozo, who Merritt notes was “one of the most highly respected carvers of Taisho and prewar Showa times, said to have been able to split one hair into three pieces” (Merritt, p. 39).
PROVENANCE:
Neil Charles Stipanich (Alamo, California, 1948-2019)
REFERENCES:
Narazaki Muneshige, Kawase Hasui mokuhanga shu, 1979, p. 210, no. D-8
Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, p. 429, no. 276
Helen Merritt, Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years, 1990, p. 39 (on Katsumura Shozo)
Hisao Shimizu, Hasui Kawase, Folk Museum of Ota City, 2007, p. 46, no. 90
Hisao Shimizu, Kawase Hasui, Folk Museum of Ota City, 2013, p. 139, no. 184
Chris Uhlenbeck, Amy Reigle Newland and Maureen de Vries, Waves of Renewal: Modern Japanese Prints, 1900-1960, Selection from the Nihon no hanga Collection, 2016, p. 18, fig. 8
Chazen Museum of Art, John H. Van Vleck Collection, accession no. 1980.769
The Art Institute of Chicago, reference no. 1990.607.637
Harvard Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, accession no. 1978.265
Honolulu Museum of Art, James A. Michener Collection, object no. 19209
Clearing After a Snowfall at Mount Fuji (Tagonoura Beach) (Fuji no yukibare [Tagonoura])
Signed Hasui with artist’s seal Kawase, the title on the right margin, Fuji no yukibare (Tagonoura), followed by the date, Showa shichinen ichigatsu saku (made in Showa 7 [1932], January), with publisher’s 12 mm round watermark, Do, in upper left corner and early postwar seal combination (ca. 1950-63) on left margin, Hanken Shoyu Doi hangaten (Copyright reserved Doi Hangaten) followed by offset seals of suri (printer) Yokoi and hori (carver) Harada, 1932
Oban tate-e 15 5/8 by 10 1/2 in., 39.8 by 26.8 cm
Although Hasui’s primary publisher was Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962), he did occasionally work with other publishing houses. Prints published by Doi Hangaten present their own challenges in dating. According to Merritt & Yamada, the printer credited with this impression, Yokoi, was active in Tokyo in the 1930s, which Mrs. Suzue Doi confirmed in an interview in 2000, indicating Yokoi was the first Doi printer beginning in the 1930s and the principal printer until approximately 1945. However, the printer Seki Kenji has stated that he was Yokoi’s apprentice beginning in 1955 and didn’t succeed him officially until 1965 when he began using his own seal on the prints. Further clouding the dating is the presence of the carver seal of Harada, who is believed to have started with Doi after the war, making it impossible that he carved the blocks for this print dated 1932. Indeed, Mrs. Doi confirmed that when new batches of prints were produced the printer would change the carver/printer seals, regardless of who the original carver may have been. While it is unlikely we will be able to say conclusively when most Doi prints were produced, the publisher’s ‘Do’ watermark and the quality of the paper indicate that this is most likely an early printing from shortly after the war.
PROVENANCE:
Neil Charles Stipanich (Alamo, California, 1948-2019)
REFERENCES:
Narazaki Muneshige, Kawase Hasui mokuhanga shu, 1979, p. 209, no. D-2
Helen Merritt & Nanako Yamada, Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975, 1992, p. 224 (on Yokoi)
Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, p. 424, no. 266
Hisao Shimizu, Hasui Kawase, Folk Museum of Ota City, 2007, p. 44, no. 79
Hisao Shimizu, Kawase Hasui, Folk Museum of Ota City, 2013, p. 138, nos. 173 & 174
Andreas Grund, ukiyo-e-gallery.com/doiinterview.htm, March 2000 shinhanga.net/doiseals.htm (on watermarks and seals)
Chazen Museum of Art, John H. Van Vleck Collection, accession no. 1980.766
The Art Institute of Chicago, reference no. 1990.607.450
Signed Hasui with artist’s seal Kawase, with title on the left margin, Omiya Hikawa koen, and dated below, Showa gonen saku (made in Showa 5 [1930]), followed by red collector’s seal, kiwame, in the corner, with publisher’s seal (Hotei ‘C’) on lower right margin, Hanmoto Watanabe Hangaten (Publisher Watanabe Print Shop), 1930
Oban tate-e 15 3/8 by 10 1/2 in., 39 by 26.7 cm
The print is mounted in a period mat bearing a label from Takezo “T.Z.” Shiota (1875-1944), whose namesake gallery was one of the first to offer Asian art in America. The gallery was located at 533 Dupont Street, but following the devastation of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the street was upgraded and renamed Grant Avenue. The mat backing is inscribed in stylish ink identifying the print details: HIRAKAWA PARK IN OMIYA AT SUNDOWN, AN ORIGINAL WOODBLOCK PRINT BY CONTEMPORARY ARTIST, HASUI, with gallery label, T.Z. SHIOTA, 515 GRANT AVENUE, SAN FRANCISCO, with red TZS seal. Shiota was an active and early proponent of the shin-hanga print movement, even commissioning Hasui in 1935 to design a print produced by Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962) depicting the Washington Monument to commemorate the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C. (perhaps the only Hasui print illustrating a location we are sure he never visited). The description of Hasui as a contemporary artist and the gallery address on Grant Avenue confirms that the print was handled by Shiota before 1942, when he famously posted a poignant farewell letter in his shop window on March 26th, the day before the Executive Order of 9066 announced the forced expulsions of persons of Japanese descent from the west coast states. Shiota and his family were sent to an internment camp in Postan, Arizona, where he sadly died in 1944 while still incarcerated. After the war, the Shiota family reopened the gallery at a new location at 402 Sutter Street, later moving to 3131 Fillmore Street, and remained in business until approximately 2009.
The red seal in the lower left corner is a larger version of the kiwame (approved) censor seal used by censors in the Edo period from 1791 until 1842, however, it is surely that of a collector and has been seen on other shin-hanga prints. The publisher seal on the right margin was used by Watanabe for a comparatively brief period, estimates vary: Irwin Pachter suggests circa 1927-32; while Michael Peters narrows the dates from 1930 to March 1932.
References:
Dorothy Blair, Modern Japanese Prints, The Toledo Museum of Art, 1936, no. 14
Kato, Junzo, comp., Kindai Nihon hanga taikei, 1975-76, Vol. III, pl. 19
Irwin J. Pachter, Kawase Hasui and his Contemporaries: The Shin Hanga (New Print) Movement in Landscape Art, 1986, p. 36 (circa dates of publisher seals)
Kendall H. Brown, Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, p. 391, no. 207
Kendall H. Brown, Visions of Japan: Kawase Hasui’s Masterpieces, 2004, p. 73, no. 37
Hisao Shimizu, Hasui Kawase, Folk Museum of Ota City, 2013, p. 97, no. 126
Michael Peters, mokuhanga1.com, How to date Watanabe Publisher seals, 2024
Chazen Museum of Art, John H. Van Vleck Collection, accession no. 1980.756
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 49.698
Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series: Arifuku Hotspings, Iwami (Tabi miyage dai sanshu: Iwami Arifuku Onsen)
Signed Hasui with artist’s seal Kawase, publisher’s red seal Watanabe at lower left, the series title cartouche on the left margin, Tabi miyage dai sanshu, followed by the print title, Iwami Arifuku Onsen, and date, Taisho ju sannen saku (work of Taisho 13 [1924])
Oban tate-e 15 1/8 by 10 1/4 in., 38.5 by 26 cm
References:
Dorothy Blair, Modern Japanese Prints, The Toledo Museum of Art, 1930, no. 72
Narazaki Muneshige, Kawase Hasui mokuhanga shu, 1979, p. 51, no. 129
Irwin J. Pachter, Kawase Hasui and His Contemporaries, 1986, p. 54, no. 40
Kendall H. Brown, & Hollis Goodall-Cristante, Shin-Hanga: New Prints in Modern Japan, 1996, p. 78, fig. 104, cat. 85
Kendall H. Brown., Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, p. 345, no. 127
Abe Publishing, Kawase Hasui Woodblock Prints, 2009, p. 46,no. 61
Chiba City Museum of Art, Kawase Hasui, 2013, p. 79, no. 73
Carolyn M. Putney, et. al., Fresh Impressions: Early Modern Japanese Prints, Toledo Museum of Art, 2013, p. 132, cat. no. 76
Hisao Shimizu, Hasui Kawase, Folk Museum of Ota City, 2013, p. 44, no. 46 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 66.412
The Art Institute of Chicago, reference no. 1990.607.378
Honolulu Museum of Art, James A. Michener Collection, object no. 19213
We are pleased to announce the release of the second pair of designs in Binnie’s two concurrent series which launched earlier this year; Rabbit from the Japanese Zodiac series, and Tan Lines from A Day at the Beach series.
Japanese Zodiac: Rabbit features a model with tattoos that represent the Year of the Rabbit (which in the zodiac calendar precedes the dragon, featured in the first print in the series). The upper tattoo is derived from an Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) print of a toy rabbit ferrying a boat, originally printed as an aka-e (red picture), produced as a lucky talisman to ward off smallpox in the 19th century. Children’s toys were popular subjects of these prints, as were images of Shoki the Demon-Queller, as illness was often framed as the work of demons. The lower tattoo is inspired by the 1889 print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) illustrating the Jade Rabbit and the Monkey King before a large pink moon from the One Hundred Aspects of the Moon series. Binnie has added a touch of humor in the placement of the moon in this composition, which alludes to the play on words with the English phrase ‘mooning.’
In A Day at the Beach: Tan Lines, the figure was printed using the same block set to create Rabbit from Binnie’s Japanese Zodiac series. In this non-tattoo version, the figure is printed to show two levels of tan lines, from longer shorts and from a speedo worn at different times, leaving paler areas untanned. The background is reduction printed in approximately 19 colors, and an embellishment of mica has been used to suggest the wet sand at the water’s edge.
To view these works and more by Binnie, click here.
CURRENT EXHIBITION
Creative Connections: Sosaku-Hanga Artists & New York
December 5, 2024 – January 31, 2025
For our winter exhibition the gallery will feature a selection of works by a group of preeminent Japanese sosaku-hanga print artists, all of whom had connections with New York and with each other. The presentation includes self-carved and self-printed woodblock prints by Shiko Munakata (1903-1975), Jun’ichiro Sekino (1914-1988), Kiyoshi Saito (1907-1997), Toshi Yoshida (1911-1995) and his younger brother, Hodaka Yoshida (1926-1995), along with Hodaka’s wife, Chizuko Yoshida (1924-2017), as well as another set of spouses, Ansei Uchima (1921-2000) and his wife, Toshiko Uchima (1918-2000).
Ahead of the opening on December 5, the exhibition is now available to explore online.
TREASURED VIEWS:
The Stipanich Collection of Kawase Hasui Woodblock Prints
September 12 – 20, 2024
11am – 5pm during duration of the exhibit (including 14-15 weekend), appointments appreciated; otherwise by appointment through October 4
We are pleased to be exhibiting Treasured Views: The Stipanich Collection of Kawase Hasui Woodblock Prints, a choice group of landscape prints by the 20th century shin-hanga master. The collection was assembled by Neil and Nancy Stipanich, who as a young married couple in the mid-1970s lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, and traveled extensively in Asia during their time abroad. In 1976 they spent 3 weeks in Japan- even climbing Mount Fuji to see the sunrise. The 1976 adventure sparked a love of Japanese art that continued throughout their lives together. These landscape woodblock prints by Kawase Hasui were a particular passion of Neil’s, and after his sudden passing, his family have decided to release them into the world for new collectors to treasure.
We are constantly updating our inventory with new prints. To browse for works by artist, or search by title, series or keyword, visit our Recent Additions here.
ONLINE EXHIBITIONS
COLLECTING THE MASTER:
The Binnie Collection of Hiroshi Yoshida Paintings
This presentation is the culmination of decades-long pursuit of assembling a comprehensive representation of paintings by the great 20th century Japanese artist, Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950), collected by the prominent woodblock print artist, Paul Binnie (b. 1967). Binnie began to build a collection of Yoshida woodblock prints and original paintings and drawings around 1989, when he purchased his first landscape print by the earlier master. Over time, Binnie was able to assemble almost every woodblock print that Yoshida made, numbering over 250 designs. An academically trained painter himself, Binnie was keen to collect oil paintings, scroll paintings, watercolors and drawings, often with a connection to woodblock prints, as his fascination was with Yoshida as both painter and printmaker. In addition to the scrolls and fan paintings, The Binnie Collection of Hiroshi Yoshida Paintings offers two drawings, four watercolors and eight oil paintings, including the original canvases for three of Yoshida’s woodblock prints, Breithorn, Ghats at Benares and New York.
Paul Binnie: 30 Prints for 30 Years of Printmaking
In 1993, Paul Binnie (b. 1967) moved from Paris to Tokyo in order to pursue training as a woodblock carver and printer, embarking on an artistic career that established him as one of the most important artists working in the Japanese tradition of woodblock printmaking. Now, thirty years hence, Binnie is still going strong. This month he released the tenth design in his series, Flowers of A Hundred Years (Bubble Era [of 1990]), as well as a limited edition set of three woodblock printed illustrations commissioned for a deluxe edition the science fiction classic novel, The Moon Moth. In recognition and celebration of Paul Binnie’s 30 years as a printmaker, Scholten Japanese Art has assembled a very special online exhibition of some of the artist’s most rare and sought-after works including such rarities as his 1994 Nocturne, the 2005 Butterfly Bow, and the 2006 Phoenix Dream, all of which have long proven (nearly) impossible to acquire by his most ardent collectors.
To view these works and others in the exhibition, click here.
Meiji Period (1868-1912)
An online presentation of Meiji Period (1868-1912) woodblock prints in celebration of the Japanese Art Society of America’s 50th anniversary exhibition, Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan, opening on October 3, 2023 at the Asia Society here in New York.
Our selection includes works by Kiyochika, Yoshitoshi, Ginko, Kunichika, Chikanobu, and Shuntei, among others, and concludes with a group of fifteen prints from the collaborative series promoting modern goods, Collections of Famous Products, The Pride of Tokyo, featuring complex mitate (parodies) enriched by layered meanings and cultural references which are revealed by unlocking the rebuses (picture puzzles) and wordplay.
View the exhibition here.
View the exhibition index here.
Backstage Pass: KABUKI (Part One and Two)
Featuring a selection of shin hanga prints and related ephemera, this online exhibit offers viewers both a front row seat to the drama…as well as a peek behind the curtain.
View Part One of the exhibition here.
View Part Two of the exhibition here.
About the Gallery
Scholten Japanese Art is a private gallery specializing in Japanese woodblock prints and paintings. We offer ukiyo-e from the 18th to 20th centuries, including shin hanga, sosaku hanga, and Japanese-style woodblock prints produced by Western artists. Located in a spacious suite in the old Meurice Hotel, just steps from Central Park South, we enjoy meeting with visitors one on one in order to best learn about your interests and share the collection with you.
We opened its doors September 2000 in a renovated townhouse on New York’s Upper East Side. In May of 2003, Scholten moved to a private suite in the old Meurice Hotel located on 58th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. We initially planned to stay in midtown temporarily, however, we were pleasantly surprised to find the central location in the heart of Manhattan offers advantages in accessibility for both local collectors (who frequently have business in the area) and proximity to numerous hotels for out-of-town visitors. In 2009 we decided to expand to a larger space in the same building which was renovated to provide more exhibition space as well as a separate ‘Print Room’ devoted to our library and large inventory of woodblock prints. We organize at least two public exhibitions every year during Asia Week (both March and September), but we always have a selection of prints and paintings on view throughout the year.
