September 2022
Important Japanese Prints and Paintings of the Late Eighteenth Century
September 16–23, 2022
(closed Sunday, September18)
11 AM to 5 PM, by appointment only
17 East 76th Street, 3rd Floor,
New York 10021
Tel: 212-794-1522
Email: info@izzardasianart.com
September 2022 Exhibition
Japanese prints and paintings of the last years of the eighteenth century are the focus of the fall exhibition at Sebastian Izzard LLC Asian Art. This was the decade of the ōkubi-e—defined as head and shoulder portraits—of both men and women, usually actors or courtesans and famous beauties of the day. Although not part of the Asian pictorial tradition, portrait heads of actors began to make their appearance on fan prints, and on fan-shaped cartouches on larger prints, from the 1720s onwards. It was not until around 1770 that the format was popularized. From around 1775 Katsukawa Shunshō (1726–1792) made large prints of actors that were designed to be cut out and mounted as folding fans and in the early 1780s, he made aiban-size, half-length portraits. His student Katsukawa Shunkō (1743‒1812) followed his lead by making similar half-length images of actors in the same format, and then followed up with his major contribution to ukiyo-e, the first full-size ōban tate-e ōkubi-e.
The authorities seem to have regarded ōkubi-e with some suspicion, objecting that artists were making their subjects “conspicuous.” Throughout the 1790s restrictions were imposed on this type of print, culminating in 1800 with an outright ban on “large head” portraits of women. When these regulations were ignored, the ban was expanded to include portraits of both men and women. Artists and their publishers responded to the regulations invarious ingenious ways, always seeking to stretch the rules to appeal to a sophisticated market eager for something new.
The exhibition will also include rare prints by Kitagawa Utamaro (1754‒1806), Katsukawa Shun’ei (1762‒1819), Chōkōsai Eishō (act. ca. 1780‒1800), Utagawa Kunimasa (1773‒1810), Tōshūsai Sharaku (act. 1794‒95), and Utagawa Toyokuni (1769‒1825), as well as a select group of ukiyo-e beauty paintings by Shiba Kōkan (1748‒1818), Aoki Masatada (act. ca. 1790‒1830), and Toyokuni.
A selection of works from the exhibition may be viewed here.
A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies this exhibition.
Attributed to Suzuki Harunobu
(1724–1770)
The Heron Maiden (Sagi musume)
Color woodblock print: chūban tate-e, 11 x 8⅜ in. (27.9 x 21.3 cm); ca. 1766–67
Unsigned
(1724–1770)
Woman Treading Cloth in a Stream
Color woodblock print: chūban
Series: Fashionable Eight Views of Edo (Fūryū Edo hakkei)
Signed: Suzuki Harunobu ga
(1747–1818)
Beauty Standing by a Gate
Hanging scroll: ink, color, and gold pigment on silk,
Signed: Kōkan Shiba Shun
Sealed: Kun Gaku
(1726–1792)
Yamashita Kinsaku II
Color woodblock print: baiōban
Signed: Shunshō ga
Series: Fans of the East (Azuma Ōgi)
Publisher: Iwatoya Genpachi
Provenance: Werner Schindler
(1743–1812)
Portrait of the Actor Nakamura Nakazō I as Kudō Suketsune
Color woodblock print: ōban tate,
Signed: Shunkō ga
Provenance: Henri Vever
(1754–1806)
Lovers in a Private Room in a Teahouse
Color woodblock print;ōban
Plate from the albumThe Poems of the Pillow (Utamakura)
Unsigned
Publisher: [Kōshodō (Tsutaya Jūzaburō)]
(1754–1806)
The Interesting Type (Omoshiroki sō)
Color woodblock print, with mica ground: ōban
Signed: Somi (the physiognomist) Utamaro hitsu
Series: Ten Types in the Physiognomic Study of Women (Fujin sōgaku juttai)
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Kōshodō (Tsutaya Jūzaburō)
Provenance: Murata Kimbei; H.P. Garland of Saco, Maine; Louis V. Ledoux
(1754–1806)
Takashima Ohisa
Color woodblock print, with mica ground: ōban
Signed: Utamaro hitsu
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Kōshodō (Tsutaya Jūzaburō)
(1754–1806)
Geisha as Fuku and Kame (Fuku, Kame)
Color woodblock print: aiban
Signed: Utamaro hitsu
Series: The Men in the Moon: The Niwaka Festival of the Pleasure Quarter (Seirō Niwaka tsuki no katsurao)
Publisher: Senkakudō (Tsuruya Kiemon)
(1754–1806)
“The Stone Bridge” (Shakkyō)
Color woodblock print, with mica ground: ōban
Signed: Utamaro hitsu
Series: An Array of Modern Dancing Girls(Tōsei odoriko-zoroe)
Publisher: Kōshodō (Tsutaya Jüzaburō)
Provenance: Henri Vever
(1754–1806)
Wistful Love (Mono-omou koi)
Color woodblock print, with mica ground: ōban
Series: Anthology of Poems of the Theme of Love (Kasen koi no bu)
Signed: Utamaro hitsu Publisher: Kōshodō (Tsutaya Jūzaburō)
Provenance: Kiyoshi Shibui; Lee E. Dirks
(1762−1819)
Ichikawa Ebizō [Danjūrō V] as Akushichibyoe Kagekiyo Disguised as a Woodsman
Color woodblock print, with mica ground: aiban
Signed: Shun’ei ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Emiya Kichiemon
(active ca. 1794–95)
Ōtani Tokuji as Sodesuke, a Retainer
Color woodblock print, with mica ground: ōban
Signed: Toshūsai Sharaku ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Kōshodō (Tsutaya Jūzaburō)
(active ca. 1794–95)
Arashi Ryūzō II as Ishibe Kinkichi
Color woodblock print, with mica ground: ōban
Signed: Tōshūsai Sharaku ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Kōshodō (Tsutaya Jūzaburō)
Provenance: Theodor Scheiwe
(active ca. 1794–95)
Sakata Hangorō III as Fujikawa Mizuemon
Color woodblock print, with mica ground: ōban
Signed: Tōshūsai Sharaku ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Kōshodō (Tsutaya Jūzaburō)
Provenance: Theodor Scheiwe
(active ca. 1780–1800)
Wakamurasaki of the Kado Tamaya (Kado Tamaya Wakamurasaki)
Color woodblock print: ōban
Series: Comparison of Beauties of the Pleasure Quarters (Kakuchū bijin kurabe)
Signed: Chōkōsai Eishō ga
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Chūsuke
Hosoda Eiu (active ca. mid 1790s)
Fumikoshi of the Gomeirō (Gomeirō Fumikoshi)
Color woodblock print, with mica ground: ōban
Series: Collection of Beauties of the Green Houses (Seirō bijin awase)
Signed: Eiu ga
(Active ca. 1790–1830)
Courtesan on Parade
Hanging scroll: ink, color, and gold pigment on paper; 48 x 20 in. (121.9 x 50.8 cm); circa 1795
Signed: Aoki Masatada ga
Sealed: Aoki Masatada and Shichoku
Poem signed: Ichijō Kankyaku
(1762−1819)
Ichikawa Ebizō [Danjūrō V] as Mita no Tsugō, Governor of Musashi, disguised as Yamagatsu Kirikabu no Yokizō
Color woodblock print: ōban
Signed: Shun’ei ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Uemura Yohei
(1769−1825)
Ichikawa Komazō III as Sasaki Ganryū
Color woodblock print: ōban
Signed: Toyokuni ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame(approved)
Publisher: Uemura Yohei
(1773−1810)
Matsumoto Yonesaburō as Fuwa Shozaemon's Daughter (?)
Color woodblock print: ōban
Signed: Kunimasa ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Uemura Yohei
(1769–1825)
Ichikawa Omezō I as Sekibei
Color woodblock print: ōban
Series: Untitled series ofōkubi-eportraits
Signed: Toyokuni ga
Publisher: Matsumura Tatsuemon
(1769–1825)
Courtesan Tying Her Obi
Courtesan Tying Her Obi Hanging scroll: ink, color, and gold pigment on silk, 36¼ x 13¼ in. (92.0 x 33.6 cm); ca.
Signed: Utagawa Toyokuni ga
Sealed: Ichiyōsai
Provenance: Itō Shinsui
Information
Sebastian Izzard Asian Art
Specializing in Japanese and Korean Art for the discriminating collector
