Ito Shinsui, Night at Ikenohata (Pre-Earthquake)

Notes: A near mint example - never framed or displayed. Was removed from the original S. Watanabe studio folder. Limited edition number and seal on the reverse - #59/100. Provenance: Purchased from S. H. Mori Gallery in Chicago, mid-1930s. Shinsui used to say, "I am called an artist depicting beautiful women. The orders I receive for paintings are mostly for beauties or genre works. Frankly, I want to draw any kind of subjects - landscape, still life, actors or so. I like to draw beauties, but I want to work on something else also." That is why he designed landscape prints since he was young and continued throughout his life. Shozaburo Watanabe also thought it was a waste for him to be asked for only beauty prints and so he would request landscape designs from the artist once in a while. The same for still life prints. It is true that Shinsui is widely called an artist of beautiful women and he himself put priority on them, but one must view all his works to find the absolute value in his artistry." - All the Woodblock Prints of Ito Shinsui