Description
Beautiful kuchi-e (口絵) woodblock print made by the artist Mizuno Toshikata (水野年方) and depicting a bijin (美人) beauty resting on the trunk of a flowering plum tree.The work is taken from a special edition, vol. 9 n. 2, of the famous literary magazine Bungei Kurabu (文芸倶楽部), which was published in January 1903 under the title “Seasonal Events Around the Country” (諸国年中行事).
Mizuno Toshikata (1866 – 1908), a pupil of Tsukiyoka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年), was a traditional genre painter much appreciated by his contemporaries. Active especially in the production of front pages for novels, as well as woodcuts depicting historical subjects and beautiful women, he gathered around him and formed young talents such as Kiyokata Kaburagi (鏑木清方). Member of the Nihon Bijutsu Kyokai (日本美術協会), in 1903 he participated in the Universal Exposition in Paris.
The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), edited by the Hakubunkan (博文館) publishing house, despite the right signs of aging is in very good general condition.
