NIJUBASHI BRIDGE (Tsuchiya Koitsu)

N.1 shin-hanga woodblock print
Year: 1939
Condition: fair
Size: 38,5 x 25 cm

SOLD

Description

Beautiful shin-hanga (新版画) woodblock print of large horizontal format made in September 1939 by the artist Tsuchiya Koitsu (土屋光逸) and depicting a suggestive view of the Nijubashi (二重橋) double bridge and, in the background, of the white Fushimi-yagura (伏見櫓) watchtower from the perspective of the Tokyo Imperial Palace Outer Gardens (皇居外苑).

Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870-1949) began his career with genre scenes and prints relating to the Sino-Japanese War (日清戦争). The turning point in his artistic production occurred in 1931 when, on the occasion of an exhibition dedicated to his master Kobayashi Kiyochika (小林清親), he met the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (渡辺庄三郎) and ended up devoting himself mainly to landscape prints in the shin-hanga (新版画) style, characterizing them with a superb interpretation of light that recalls the works of Kiyochika himself but also of Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水).

The fine print on Japanese washi paper (和紙) shows the right signs of aging and, in particular, some slight stains.