| Notes (this edition)?: |
| The following information was taken from the original web listing of this artwork. Note that there may be some inaccuracies:
Monday, 16 January 2006
NOEL NOUET
Akasaka
Date: 1936, dated in the blocks to the print, this is a later edition published by Doi with the rare Endo-Ito carver/printer seals
Size: approx. 10.4" x 15.75"
Condition: Fine, no condition issues
Impression: Fine, Nouet prints are notorious for their carving as the artist's style used many lines and required much more time to be carved than other shin hanga artist's prints.
Color: Fine, deep saturated color and bleed through
DURING THE EDO PERIOD, Asakusa was a halfway stop between the city and its most infamous pleasure district, Yoshiwara. In time, however Asakusa developed into a pleasure quarter in its own right, eventually becoming the center for that most loved of Edo entertainments, kabuki. In the very shadow of Senso-ji Temple a fairground spirit prevailed and a whole range of very secular entertainments were provided, from kabuki theatres to brothels. When Japan ended its self-imposed isolation with the commencement o the Meiji Restoration, it was in Asakusa that the first cinemas opened, in Asakusa that the first music halls appeared and in Asakusa's Teikoku Gekijo Theatre (Imperial Theatre) that western opera was first performed before Japanese audiences. Unfortunately, Asakusa never quite recovered from the bombing at the end of WWII. Although Senso-ji Temple was rebuilt, other areas of Tokyo assumed Asakusa's role of the pleasure district.
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| Artist Bio: |
NOEL NOUET was a French artist who designed prints of Tokyo land-and-citiscapes. Little is known about Nouet's formative years. During the 1930's and 40's, he worked as the director of La Maison Franco-Japonaise and was a lecturer at Tokyo University. In 1935, Nouet began collaborating with the Tokyo publisher Doi Teiichi. His first woodblock prints were monochrome, based on his pen and ink sketches. These prints include "Gate of Zozoji Temple" and "Kikyo Gate of the Emperor's Palace". In 1936, Doi and Nouet produced a series of color woodblock prints called "Ten Views of Tokyo". All of these prints are signed and dated in English within the image. In 1946, Nouet published a book of his drawings called Tokyo: Fifty Sketches. He also wrote several books on Japanese history.
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