Artist: Hashiguchi Goyō
Medium: Original Limited Edition Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: Snow
Edition: Limited Edition: #21/100
Date: 1920
Publisher: S. Watanabe Color Print Co.
Reference No.: The New Wave #129
Size: 10 x 15 -3/4 "
Condition: Mint
Notes:
An evocative pre-quake snow design. The S. Watanabe 6mm circular seal in lower right. Dated and signed upper left: 1st month of Taisho 9 (1920) and stamped Taisho kyunen ichigatsu Goyō ga. Red seal lower left: Taisho, year of the monkey, with figure of monkey in vertical square. On reverse, limited-edition number #21/100 and stamped Edo-e kanshōkai kaiban (published for the Edo painting connoisseurship club). In 1920, the group commissioned Hashiguchi Goyō to create this snowy landscape for distribution to their Edo-e Kanshokai (collector's club).
The artist rendered Mount Ibuki principally in subdued shades, with only the cool blue of the meandering river further re-enforcing the bleakness of the wintry landscape. It exemplifies the artist's ability in the treatment of light and atmosphere. Goyō states that this design was based on a sketch he made when in the vicinity of Tarui station as he was traveling from Kobe to Tokyo in December 1920: "I recorded the beauty of the subject of the rows of pines along the river and Mount Ibuki covered in snow to the distant north".