Shina Fūkō Zu-e 支那風光図絵

1936. [Print Album]

Takeuchi Seihō 竹内栖鳳, artist

Shina Fūkō Zu-e 支那風光図絵

Kyoto: Otsuka Kogeisha 大塚巧藝社

Showa 11 [1936]

[Print Album] Takeuchi Seihō 竹内栖鳳. Shina Fūkō Zu-e 支那風光図絵. Kyoto, Otsuka Kogeisha 大塚巧藝社, Showa 11 [1936]; #32 of 150cc. Large gold cloth brocade portfolio 43 x 54 cm. Twelve prints of China [ea. 32 x 43 cm image size], wonderfully well printed using a hybrid of collotype with woodcut printed color overlays. Clasped portfolio with printed silk title label. The prints are tipped onto backing mattes. Overall the prints themselves are in fine condition.

Baldinger in his article about Seihō (1864-1942) mentions this series as complete in 12 (of a total of 36 projected) images. Displayed in 1922 at the Japan-France exchange, one of his original paintings, Soshū no Ame 蘇州の雨 [Rain at Suzhou] won Seihō membership in the French Legion of Honor in 1924 as "Chevalier." (Seihō later received the rank of "Officier" in 1931.) Two of the prints here are of Suzhou (also Soochow, 蘇州 or 苏州). The publisher Otsuka Kogeisha 大塚巧藝社, founded by Otsuka Minoru, was known for its remarkable technical virtuosity in capturing in prints the delicacy of watercolor paintings. Done about the same time that Unsōdō 芸艸堂, using similar techniques, was publishing Seihō's Ippinshu portfolio. All in a cracked and repaired custom wooden box.