March 2014

JADA 2014: An Exhibition by the Japanese Art Dealers Association

March 15—19, 2014

Sebastian Izzard LLC participated in JADA’s seventh joint exhibition during Asia Week at the Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion/Ukrainian Institute, 2 East 79th Street, New York from March 15–19. Highlights included an important painting by Kawanabe Kyosai (1831–1889) depicting a pair of crows on a branch overlooking a view of Asakusa. Kyosai explored the subject of crows often in his body of work and this is considered to be his finest rendition of the birds.

Paintings by Utagawa Toyokuni (1769–1825), and Sakai Hoitsu (1761–1828), a leading Edo period Rinpa artist, will be included as well. Tani Buncho (1763–1840), an eclectic and prolific artist proficient in many painting styles, were represented by a work entitled Scholars at the Lan T’ing Pavilion from 1803.

Sebastian Izzard LLC also showed unique and unusual examples of Japanese porcelain including a rare and exceptionally large Aode-Kutani dish from the mid-17th century decorated with a bamboo section and grape leaves in a bold color palette of mustard yellow, blue, green, and aubergine. An unusual Kakiemon figural model of a young man (wakashu) was also featured. For more information on this exhibition, please see www.jada-ny.org

Ukiyo-e Paintings, Prints, and Illustrated Books of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

March 15—21, 2014

Ukiyo-e Paintings, Prints, and Illustrated Books of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries were shown at Sebastian Izzard LLC, 17 East 76th Street, New York, opening March 15 and running through March 21, 2014.

The exhibition featured paintings by the Edo artist Miyagawa Choshun (1683–1753), Okumura Masanobu (1686–1764), and Utagawa Toyokuni (1769–1825), fine surimono from the collection of Robert H. Pruyn, United States Minister to Japan during the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and a select group of illustrated books. 

Particularly noteworthy was a rare and important book depicting courtesans and their poems by Katsukawa Shunsho (1726–1792) and Kitao Shigemasa (1739–1820). Entitled Mirror of the Forms of Fair Women of the Green Houses (Seiro bijin awase sugata kagami), this book set a new standard for color printing and represents the publishing debut of Tsutaya Juzaburo, the foremost publisher of ukiyo-e in the late eighteenth century.