Artist: Lilian Miller
Medium: Original Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: Japan Series
Edition: First
Date: 1928
Publisher: The Artist - Privately Published
Reference No.: Brown Figure: #73; cat. #84
Size: 10 -3/4 x 15 -1/2 "
Condition: Very fine, with superb colors
Notes:
Signed, dated and numbered by the artist in black ink. A very early numbered impression: #1/17 in black ink; lower right corner of image. Despite the narrative appeal, Miller dramatically juxtaposes the naturalistic volume of the round umbrellas with the unnatural flatness of the silhouetted figures beneath them. The flat-figure motif also appeared in the print, "Tokyo Coolie Boy", but is far more exaggerated in this composition.
In preparing for her 1929-30 American tour, Miller selected this design and description to represent her work in the mid-October issue of Art Digest. Miller describes:
'Though Japan is now in the seemingly inevitable transition from an oriental country to an up-to-date Western power, there are still to be found, both on the highways and byways of Nippon, many reminiscent touches of her ancient picturesqueness. Amongst these perhaps one of the most beautiful is the gay tinted oil paper umbrella that rich and poor, young and old alike, may be seen carrying on rainy days. These quaint round umbrellas are not only of many colors but of many patterns, an endless succession of designs of breath-taking charm; and cloudy, gloomy days in Japan take on a bright and lovely aspect when two or more of these umbrellas are glimpsed passing down a lane or crossing over an old native bridge, looking like veritable blossoms opening in the rain.'