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| Artist: | Shotei Takahashi (1871-1945) Hiroaki — 松亭高橋、弘明 |
| Title: | Nude Playing with Cat |
| Series: | |
| Date of first edition?: | 1925 (circa) |
| Publisher (first edition)?: | Fusui Gabo |
| Publisher (this edition)?: | Fusui Gabo |
| Medium (first edition): | Woodblock |
| Medium (this edition): | Woodblock |
| Format (first edition): | Large Oban
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| Format (this edition): | Large Oban |
| DB artwork code: | 47785 |
| Notes (first edition)?: |
Artist: Takahashi Hiroaki (Shôtei) 高橋松亭 弘明
Title: Seated Nude with Black Cat
Date: ca 1924-27
Dimensions: 43.5 x 27.3 cm
Publisher: Fusui Gabô (Publisher's seal in right margin)
Notes:
Seated Nude Playing with Black Cat. A seated beauty holds her towel up for a black kitten to play with. She is relaxed, her long hair falling past her waist. The outlines of her body have been printed with a soft pink and are also blind-printed with kara-zuri to give physical volume to her figure. Against this intimate pose is an explosively red background with diagonal streaks, giving the work a highly charged, dramatic contrast. One of the most brazenly erotic images in shin hanga, this is one of Hiroaki's finest designs, and is also one of his most scarce designs, as the printer's building (including inventory and blocks) were destroyed during WWII. Extremely scarce.
Literature: Merritt, Helen, Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years, 1990, p. 99. Brown, Kendall H. & Goodall-Cristante, Hollis, Shin-Hanga, New Prints in Modern Japan, 1996, p. 64, fig. 80. Reigle Newland, Amy, and Hamanaka Shinji, The Female Image: 20th century prints of Japanese beauties, 2000, no. 147. Nihon no hanga III 1921-1930, Toshi to onna to hikari to kage to (Japanese Prints III, 1921-1930: Cities and Women, Lights and Shadows), Chiba City Museum of Art, 2001, p. 125, no. 270. Reigle Newland, Amy, gen. ed., Printed to Perfection: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection, 2004, no. 13. Shimizu, Hisao, Syotei (Hiroaki) Takahashi: His Life and Works, 2005, pl. 317. Shimizu, Hisao, The Collected Print Works of Shotei Takahashi, A Modern Ukiyo-e Painter, 2006, p105, no. 102.
Seal: Hiroaki and printer’s seal Onotomi
Signature: Hiroaki |
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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:
Exceedingly rare example of this gorgeous scene. Thanks to Egenolf Gallery for this entry.
Artist: Takahashi Hiroaki (Shôtei) 高橋松亭 弘明
Title: Seated Nude with Black Cat
Date: ca 1924-27
Seated Nude Playing with Black Cat. A seated beauty holds her towel up for a black kitten to play with. She is relaxed, her long hair falling past her waist. The outlines of her body have been printed with a soft pink and are also blind-printed with kara-zuri to give physical volume to her figure. Against this intimate pose is an explosively red background with diagonal streaks, giving the work a highly charged, dramatic contrast. One of the most brazenly erotic images in shin hanga, this is one of Hiroaki's finest designs, and is also one of his most scarce designs, as the printer's building (including inventory and blocks) were destroyed during WWII. Extremely scarce.
Condition: Excellent impression and color. Very good condition. Minor discoloration on upper and lower margins.
Dimensions: 43.5 x 27.3 cm
Publisher: Fusui Gabô (Publisher's seal in right margin)
Literature: Merritt, Helen, Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years, 1990, p. 99. Brown, Kendall H. & Goodall-Cristante, Hollis, Shin-Hanga, New Prints in Modern Japan, 1996, p. 64, fig. 80. Reigle Newland, Amy, and Hamanaka Shinji, The Female Image: 20th century prints of Japanese beauties, 2000, no. 147. Nihon no hanga III 1921-1930, Toshi to onna to hikari to kage to (Japanese Prints III, 1921-1930: Cities and Women, Lights and Shadows), Chiba City Museum of Art, 2001, p. 125, no. 270. Reigle Newland, Amy, gen. ed., Printed to Perfection: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection, 2004, no. 13. Shimizu, Hisao, Syotei (Hiroaki) Takahashi: His Life and Works, 2005, pl. 317. Shimizu, Hisao, The Collected Print Works of Shotei Takahashi, A Modern Ukiyo-e Painter, 2006, p105, no. 102.
Seal: Hiroaki and printer’s seal Onotomi
Signature: Hiroaki |
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| Artist Bio: |
Takahashi Shotei was born in Tokyo with the given name of Takahashi Katsutaro. At a young age he was trained in Nihon-ga , the traditional Japanese painting style by his uncle Matsumoto Fuko, and beginning around 1907 Shotei started designing for the Watanabe Color Print Company. Shotei was among the first designers to be recruited into Watanabe's stable of artists, which would later expand to include Goyo, Shinsui, Hasui, Kasamatsu, Koson and Koitsu among others. Many Watanabe prints were designed for export, primarily to North America, where the demand for all things Japanese was high in the early 20th century.
By 1923 Shotei had produced nearly 500 designs for Watanabe, when Tokyo was hit by the Great Kanto earthquake -- the worst recorded natural catastrophe in the history of Japan. The fires ignited by the earthquake raged for three days, and Watanabe's print shop and all the woodblocks created by Shotei and the other early shin hanga artists, were destroyed.
After the earthquake Shotei created another 250 prints mostly depicting scenic Japanese landscapes in the shin hanga style he had helped to define. He continued to work for Watanabe, but also worked with the publishers Fusui Gabo and Shobido Tanaka, where he had more control over the finished print than was possible with Watanabe.
Shotei used a variety of names, signatures and seals during his lifetime. From 1907 until 1922 he used the name Shotei, and after 1922 Hiroaki and Komei.
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