| Notes (this edition)?: |
| The following information was taken from the original web listing of this artwork. Note that there may be some inaccuracies:
Saturday, 29 August 2009
Artist: Chiura Obata
Title: Merced River, Yosemite Valley
Print Type: Original Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: World Landscape Series
Edition No: First and only
Date: 1930
Publisher: Takamizawa Color-Print Studio, Tokyo
Reference No: Obata's Yosemite, p. 139
Size: 15-3/4 x 11 " (image); 18 x 13 " (paper)
Condition: Very fine.
Notes: Obata comments, "Clad in a misty autumnal vapor, the high cliff at the entrance of Yosemite Valley looks sleepily down at the murmuring river that flows below, singing a cradle song."
The headwaters of the 112 mile long Merced River are in Yosemite National Park. It was designated a National Wild and Scenic River in 1987.
Begun in 1928 when Obata visited Japan, the World Landscape Series took 18 months to complete. The project required the work of 32 block carvers and 40 printers with each print requiring from 100 to as many as 160 impressions in order to accurately replicate Obata's original watercolors. The folio consisted of 35 colored woodblock prints. All but one show California scenes, and 27 are views of Yosemite and the High Sierra. It is believed that 100 folios were sent to the artist. Not all of the prints were signed and sealed. Each print has the publishers name stamped on the reverse. The folder illustration shows the publisher's watermark, visible below the title slip.
PRINTS BY OBATA IN FINE CONDITION, EXHIBITING FRESH COLORS, AS WITH THESE, ARE VERY RARE.
LIKE THE SET IN THE ACHENBACH/FINE ARTS MUSEUM OF SAN FRANCISCO, THE PRINTS IN THIS GROUP, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF "FOGGY MORNING, VAN NESS AVENUE" ARE UNSIGNED. |
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