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| Artist: | Asano Takeji — 浅野竹二 |
| Title: | The Buddhist Statue at Kamakura in Springtime |
| Series: | |
| Date of first edition?: | 1948/5 |
| Date of this artwork?: | 1950 (may not be accurate) |
| Publisher (first edition)?: | Baba Nobuhiko — 馬場信彦 |
| Publisher (this edition)?: | Baba Nobuhiko — 馬場信彦 |
| Medium (first edition): | Woodblock |
| Medium (this edition): | Woodblock |
| Format (first edition): | Oban
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| Format (this edition): | Oban |
| DB artwork code: | 38476 |
| Notes (first edition)?: |
There appears to be two editions of this scene. What I assume to be the first edition is a summer(?) rain scene dated 1948 with the bijin holding a blue parasol. The later edition is titled in English and dated 1950 in the bottom margin, while the original Japanese dating of 1948 remains in the right margin. The bijin holds a red parasol, and printer/carver seals (Satou/Yamaguchi) can be found in the left margin.
There is also an alternate colour state (monochrome) of the 1950 edition, with the publisher seal of Tokyo Hanga-In. Ths is the first time we have found the Tokyo Hanga-In seal on a post-war print. |
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| Notes (this edition)?: |
| The following information was taken from the original web listing of this artwork. Note that there may be some inaccuracies:
Title The Great Buddha at Kamakura
first edition
Artist Takeji Asano 1900-1999
Signature 'Takeji'.
Dated 1950.
Publisher Baba Nobuhiko.
Medium/Technique Woodblock print.
Impression Excellent - very good.
Colors Very good.
Condition Very good … Light toning, slight creases and foxing, Tape residues on the top margin.
Description "Kamakura Daibutsu". The Buddha Statue at Kamakura in springtime.
Note Carver Yamaguchi, printer Sato.
Format Oban tate-e
Width Item 10.8 inches = 27.5 cm
Height Item 16.5 inches = 42.0 cm |
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| Artist Bio: |
Asano Takeji was born in Kyoto in 1900 and studied art in his youth. He graduated from the Kyoto City School of Fine Arts in 1919 and subsequently from the Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting in 1923. One of his early teachers was the artist and printmaker Tsuchida Bakusen, with whom he studied Japanese-style painting. Asano helped to organise the Kyoto Creative Print Society (Kyoto Sosaku-Hanga Kyokai) in 1929.
In 1930, Asano contributed several designs to a series of prints titled "Creative Prints of Twelve Months in new Kyoto" (Sosaku-hanga shin Kyoto junikagetsu). These prints were published by Uchida. The other artists contributing to this series were Benji Asada and Tomikichiro Tokuriki, also members of the Kyoto Creative Print Society. Asano's work as a shin hanga print designer continued throughout the 1930's, but along the way he learned the skills of carving and printing. This enabled him to create his own self-carved and self-printed series of landscape prints titled "Noted Views in the Kyoto-Osaka Area" (Kinki meisho fukei) in 1947.
During the 1950's, Asano designed numerous landscape prints for the publisher Unsodo. These popular landscape prints are still being reprinted today. Original Unsodo prints have the Japanese date printed in the margin, while the modern reprints lack the date. Inspired by the encouragement of the Lithuanian-American social realism artist Ben Shahn, who once visited him in his studio and remained his friend, Asano established a freer artistic style often featuring animals in bold colours, later in his career. Asano continued to work as a printmaker during the 1970's and 80's. These late prints were simple and often humorous, signed with the letters T.A. and the date.
This information has been excerpted from various web sources and from Merritt and Yamada's Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975.
浅野 竹二（あさの たけじ、明治33年（1900年）10月24日-平成10年（1998年）2月10日）
京都の日本画家、版画家。京都市立絵画専門学校で日本画を専攻、途中油絵に手をそめましたが、再び日本画に復帰、土田麦僊の率いる「山南塾」に入塾し、国画創作協会展に出品するなど日本画家として活躍しました。 |
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