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Recollection of Old Songs

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Recollection of Old Songs 古歌の思出
by Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934)

Original caretaker of this artwork: The Lavenberg Collection

The artworks displayed on JAODB are not for sale.

Artist: Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934) 竹久夢二
Title: Recollection of Old Songs 古歌の思出
Series: Yumeji Masterpieces 夢二名作集
Date of first edition?1938-1939
Publisher (first edition)?Kato Junji
Publisher (this edition)?Kato Junji
Medium (first edition): Woodblock
Medium (this edition): Woodblock
Format (first edition): Aiban
Format (this edition): Aiban
DB artwork code: 48046
Notes (first edition)?
Notes (this edition)?
The following information was taken from the original web listing of this artwork. Note that there may be some inaccuracies:

Thanks to The Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints for this entry.

About This Print
One of a number of posthumous prints created from Yumeji's illustrations by the Tokyo-based publisher Katō Junji. This design was originally made for the below 1924 cover of the musical score The Old Refrain by the Austrian composer Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) published by Senow Ongaku Shuppansha.

Print Details
Title: The Old Refrain [alternate translation Recollection of Old Songs]
Koka no Omoide 古歌の思出 - as written in the top of the left margin
Series: Yumeji’s Masterpieces
夢二名作集 Yumeji meisakushū
Artist: Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934)
Signature: unsigned
Seal: artist's comma-shaped (tomoe) seal
Publication Date: originally 1938-1939
Edition: unknown - prints from the series were reprinted an unknown number of times during the life of the publisher
Publisher: Katō Junji 加藤潤二 [Katō Hanga Kenkyūjo]
copyright owned by Hanken shoyū Katō Junji 版権i所有 加藤潤二 - as printed in left margin
Genre: fukusei hanga
Format: ōban
H x W Paper 13 1/2 x 10 1/16 in. (34.3 x 25.6 cm)
H x W Image 11 3/4 x 8 3/4 in. (29.8 x 22.2 cm)
Reference Literature
Takehisa Yumeji, Nozomi Naoi, et. al., Brill, 2015, cat. 72, p. 140.

Series Information: 
The majority of Yumeji's woodblock-printed designs were released after his death in 1934. The publisher who was instrumental in having Yumeji's work recognized was the Tokyo-based Katō Junji (1885-1961). During the late 1930s and early 1940s. Katō and his team of artisan block-cutters and printers at the Katō Print Workshop (Katō Print Workshop) (Katō Hanga Kenkyūjo) reused and recalled numerous famous paintings, music scores and watercolours for series of prints and postcards. The thirty woodblock prints in this set are a selection of the most popular cover designs from the over 270 that the artist produced of Seno music scores. Katō Junji personally compiled the set and it reflects what he believed was representative of Yumeji's artistic diversity, ranging from the portrayal of beautiful women and landscapes to this fascination with Western artistic styles. (from The Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints).
Artist Bio: 
Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934) was a leading figure in the Taisho Romanticism movement that combined Western romanticism with native Japanese styles during the Taisho Period (1912-1926). He was a painter, writer, poet, bookbinder and illustrator whose drawings of women with thin bodies and large eyes filled with melancholy were known as Yumeji Bijin-ga. During the height of his popularity he was called the “modern Utamaro” and the Japanese “Toulouse-Lautrec and Edvard Munch”. His prints epitomized the relationship between popular art and the woodblock.

The artworks displayed on JAODB are not for sale.

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Site copyright: Dr Ross F. Walker. Copyright of the displayed artwork: the original owner. The information contained on this website is provided as an educational resource to scholars and collectors of Japanese art. JAODB would like to thank the caretakers of these art items for their contribution to this database. The items displayed here are not being offered for sale. Unless otherwise indicated the displayed item is not in the ownership of JAODB or Ross Walker.