Description
In this refined kuchi-e (口 絵) frontispiece, made for vol. 14 n. 9 of the famous literary magazine Bungei Kurabu (文芸倶楽部), the artist Suzuki Kason (鈴木華邨) depicts a bijin (美人) beauty next to a willow tree and aboard a yanebune (屋根船), a boat with a low roof on which, at the end of the sultry days of the Japanese summer, people could enjoy the cool of the evening along the banks of the rivers.
Suzuki Kason (1860 – 1919), although known to collectors mainly for his xylographic frontispieces, indeed rather rare to find, was above all a prolific painter of traditional style, as well as a member of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts (帝国美術院).
The woodcut, printed in 1908 by the Hakubunkan (博文館) publishing house, despite the right signs of aging, is in good general condition thanks also to an effective relining carried out on the back with another sheet of Japanese washi paper (和紙).
