Description
Polychrome woodblock print of the kuchi-e (口絵) type entitled “Nature and a Fishing Rod” (一竿の風月) and made in 1909 by Kawai Gyokudo (川合玉堂), an artist of the Imperial House, active during the Meiji (明治) and Showa (昭和) periods, known primarily for his nihonga (日本画) style works.
Kawai Gyokudo (1873 – 1957) is the pseudonym of Kawai Yoshisaburo (川合芳三郎). Born in Ichinomiya (一宮), in 1887 he moved to Kyoto to study painting with Kono Bairei (幸野楳嶺) in the style of the Shijo school (四条派). From 1896 he was in Tokyo as a student of Hashimoto Gaho (橋本雅邦) of the Kano school (狩野派). He also studied western painting and developed a very personal style, particularly in the field of landscape painting in which he synthesized aspects of the Shijo and Kano schools’ styles and techniques with realistic motifs deriving from Western painting.
The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging, is in good general condition.
