Brown, Pieter Irwin, Jehol in Falling Snow (Over-sized)

A stunning over-sized design that dramatically depicts the city of Jehol under a blanket of snow. From his home in Kyoto, Brown made trips to China, Manchuria, and Korea. One of the places that especially interested him was Jehol, located in the northwest Chinese province of Hebei. Brown made many drawings of this area which would later be turned into woodblock prints. The Chinese emperor Kangxi (1662-1723) had chosen Jehol as the site for an imperial summer palace because of its cool climate and natural beauty. The imperial palace was completed by Kangxi's successor Qianlong (1736-96), who also built many temples around the surrounding lakes and mountains. Jehol was abandoned in the late 19th century and had probably suffered from vandalism by the time Brown visited it. Since the 1960's, Jehol (now called Chengde) has been protected and restored by the Chinese government. Situated northeast of Beijing, Jehol is best known for its vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by the Qing emperors as a summer residence. In 1937, P.D. Perkins, a Pasadena book and print dealer, compiled a partial list of Brown's prints. This catalogue listed 19 prints and a commentary on Brown's work. Perkins summed up Brown's distinctive style, saying "the strength in his prints lies, perhaps, in his elimination of non-essentials." Like other shin hanga artists, Brown used the Western techniques of perspective and shadowing to create dimensionality and depth. However, he was clearly inspired by the flat areas of color in ukiyo-e prints.