March 2025
Japanese Prints and Paintings, 1720–1820
March 14‒21, 2025 (closed Sunday)
11 AM to 5 PM, by appointment
17 East 76th Street, 3rd Floor,
New York 10021
Tel: 212-794-1522
Email: info@izzardasianart.com
Japanese Prints and Paintings, 1720–1820
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 of 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. The dainty, almost doll-like figures of Harunobu, were also replaced by robust women of Kitao Shigemasa and Isoda Koryūsai. The transition away from the dominance of Harunobu to the burgeoning influence of Shigemasa, is represented by an important painting by Shiba Kōkan of a young woman in a pastoral setting.
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 portrait is also complemented by four fine prints by Kitagawa Utamaro, in addition to a rare full-length portrait by Sharaku, and others by Katsukawa Shun’ei, Utagawa Toyokuni, and his student Utagawa Kunimasa.
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.
A Large Elephant Visits
Woodblock print, urushi-e with metallic filings and hand-applied color: horizontal hosoban,
6⅛ x 13¼ in. (15.6 x 33.7 cm); ca. 1729
Unsigned
Publisher: Rankōdō (Emiya Kichiemon) of Shiba Myōjinmae Yokochō
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
The Poem of Ki no Tomonori (Ki no Tomonori)
Color woodblock print: chūban tate-e,
11 x 8½ in. (27.9 x 20.3 cm); 1767–68
Signed: Harunobu ga
Prostitute of the Ibarakiya Waylaying a Client
Color woodblock print: chūban tate-e,
10⅝ x 8 in. (27 x 20.3 cm); ca. 1767–68
Signed: Harunobu ga
Two Women Walking on a Windy Day
Color woodblock print: chūban tate-e,
10¾ x 8 in. (27.3 x 20.3 cm); 1768‒69
Signed: Harunobu ga
Evening Cool at the Iseya Teahouse
Color woodblock print: chūban tate-e,
10⅞ x 8⅛ in. (27.6 x 20.6 cm); 1768
Signed: Suzuki Harunobu ga
Courtesan of the Motoya and a Komusō
Color woodblock print: chūban tate-e,
11⅜ x 8½ in. (28.9 x 21.6 cm); 1769–70
Signed: Suzuki Harunobu ga
Evening Bell at Nippori (Nichibo bansho)
Color woodblock print: chūban tate-e,
10¼ x 7½ in. (26 x 19.1 cm); 1770–72
Series: Ten Stylish Views of Famous Places in Edo (Fūryū Edo meisho jikkei)
Signed: Kōryū ga
(1726–1792)
Ichikawa Yaozō II as Hachiōmaru Aratora and Segawa Kikunojō III as Aigo no Waka
Color woodblock print: hosoban,
12⅞ x 6 in. (32.7 x 15.2 cm); 1774
Signed: Shunshō ga
Beauty Standing by a Gate
Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold pigment on silk,
40 x 15¾ in. (101.6 x 40 cm); ca. 1774‒76
Signed: Kōkan Shiba Shun
Sealed: Kun Gaku
Rats, Corncob, and Chestnuts
Color woodblock print: sensu fan print,
9¾ x 20⅜ in. (38.1 x 25.4 cm); ca. 1773–74
Signed: Kitao Shigemasa sha
Publisher: [Iwatoya Genpachi?]
Provenance: Werner Schindler
Kabuki Play at the Three Great Theaters, a Newly Published Perspective Print (Shinpan uki-e san shibai Kabuki kyōgen no zu)
Color woodblock print, dai-ōban yoko-e,
15¼ x 20½ in. (38.7 x 52.1 cm); ca. 1776
Signed: Utagawa Toyoharu hitsu
Publisher: Iwatoya Genpachi of Asakusa Kayamachi nichōme higashi kado
Yoshizawa Iroha I as Osato, the daughter of a Sushi Chef (Sushiya musume Osato Yoshizawa Iroha)
Color woodblock print: hosoban,
12¼ x 5½ in. (31.1 x 14 cm); ca. 1777
Signed: Kitagawa Toyoaki ga
Publisher: (unknown)
Provenance: Albert Maroni; Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc. (1978), lot 684; Henry Steiner
Morokoshi of the Echizenya, maids Ayano and Orino (Echizenya uchi Ayano Orino)
Color woodblock print, ōban tate-e,15¼ x 10 in. (38.7 x 25.4 cm); 1794
Series: Array of Supreme Portraits of the Present Day (Tōji zensei nigao-zoro-e)
Signed: Utamaro hitsu
Publisher: Wakasaya Yoichi
Provenance: Charles Haviland (1832–1896), sold Estampes Japonaises (first sale), Hotel Drouot, Paris, 1922, lot 291; the descendants of Andre Spoerry (1891–1940); Private American Collection
Sanogawa Ichimatsu III as Onayo of Gion, a Courtesan
Color woodblock print: aiban tate-e,
12⅞ x 8⅞ in. (32.7 x 22.5 cm); 1794
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Unsigned
Publisher: Emiya Kichiemon (indistinct)
Provenance: Henri Vever
Segawa Kikunojō III as Ōshizu, the wife of Tanabe Bunzō
Color woodblock print: ōban tate-e,
15 x 10 in. (38.1 x 25.4 cm); 1794
Signed: Tōshūsai Sharaku ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Tsutaya Jūzaburō
Provenance: M. Fleury, Paris
Ichikawa Yaozō III as Fuwa Banzaemon Shigekatsu and Sakata Hangorō III as Kosodate Kannonbō
Color woodblock print: ōban tate-e,
14¾ x 10 in. (37.5 x 25.4 cm); 1794
Signed: Tōshūsai Sharaku ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Kōshōdō (Tsutaya Jūzaburō)
Shogatsuya [Sakata Hangorō III]as Fujikawa Mizuemon
Color woodblock print: ōban tate-e,
15 x 10 in. (38.1 x 25.4 cm); 1794
Series: A Pictorial Almanac of Actors on the Stage (Yakusha butai no sugata-e)
Signed: Toyokuni ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Kansendō (Izumiya Ichibei)
Ichikawa Hikosaburō III as Ōboshi Yuranosuke
Color woodblock print: ōban tate-e,
15⅛ x 10 in. (38.4 x 25.4 cm); 1795
Series: Untitled series of actor portraits
Publisher: Iwatoya Kisaburō (Eirindō)
Provenance: Manzi, sold Hotel Druout, Paris, 1921, lot 120; Henri Vever, sold Sotheby & Co. (1974), lot 138
Kataoka Nizaemon VII as the Sorcerer Iyo no Tarō Hidezumi Disguised as Bantarō, a Nightwatchman
Color woodblock print; aiban tate-e,
12⅜ x 8½ in. 31.4 x 21.6 cm); 11/1796
Signed: Kunimasa ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Chūsuke
Bamboo Blind (Sudare)
Color woodblock print with metallic pigment details: ōban tate-e,
14⅞ x 9⅞ in. (39.4 x 26 cm); ca. 1795–96
Series: Eight Views of Tea-stalls in Celebrated Places (Meisho koshikake hakkei)
Signed: Utamaro hitsu
Publisher: Iseya Rihei
The Waitress of the Chiyozuru Teahouse
Color woodblock print: ōban tate-e,
15½ x 10¼ in. (39.4 x 26 cm); ca. 1796–98
Series: Untitled series of teahouse beauties
Signed: Utamaro hitsu
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Chūsuke
Kokin (Kokin)
Color woodblock print with mica details: ōban tate-e,
15⅜ x 10 in. (39.1 x 25.4 cm); ca. 1795–97
Series: Comparison of Beauties of the Pleasure Quarters (Kakuchū bijin kurabe)
Signed: Chōkōsai Eishō giga
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Chūsuke
Provenance: Henri Vever; Huguette Beres; Max Palevsky; Lee Dirks; Private collection, USA
Colossal Statue of a Bronze Man on the Island of Rhodes (Rottesu kaitō dōjin kyozō)
Color woodblock print: ōban yoko-e,
9⅞ x 15 in. (24.8 x 37.8 cm); ca. 1815–20
Series: Newly Published Dutch Perspective Pictures (Shinpan Oranda uki-e)
Signature: Kuninaga ga
Publisher: Izumiya Ichibei
Provenance: Hayashi Tadamasa; Henri Vever
Courtesan Dressed in White for the Hassaku Festival
Hanging scroll; ink and colors and gold metallic pigment on silk,
35⅜ x 12½ in. (89.9 x 31.8 cm);
Bunka era, ca. 1815–18
Painting and poem signed: Shunman heisha
Artist’s seal: Shunman
Inscription signed: Bōsai
Sealed: Choko Shi-in and Nagaoki
Information
Sebastian Izzard Asian Art
Specializing in Japanese and Korean Art for the discriminating collector
