Description
Elegant woodblock print of the kuchi-e (口絵) type made by the artist Mizuno Toshikata (水野年方) as the frontispiece of vol. 1 (上巻) of the “Collection of Japanese Women’s Etiquette” (日本女礼式大全), by the writer Tsuboya Zenshiro (坪谷善四郎), and depicting a bijin (美人) beauty in front of a blossoming cherry tree.
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 1900 he participated in the Universal Exposition in Paris.
The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), produced in August 1897 by the Hakubunkan (博文館) publishing house, despite the right signs of aging and in particular a slight rippling of the paper in the lower part, is in good condition.
