Woman in Snow

printed with baren swirls in the sky and kara-zuri ('blind-printing') of the snow on the ground; with artist's monogram FC followed by Tokyo 1915, with publisher's round Watanabe seal above

15 3/8 by 6 7/8 in., 39.2 by 17.4 cm

Although he was happy with his collaborations with Capelari, the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962) was looking for something more Japanese for both his export and domestic markets. Watanabe approached another young artist, Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921), one of the top graduates of the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko (Tokyo School of Fine Arts). Here was a Japanese artist who was trained in Western-style painting, who happened to be a very serious student of classical ukiyo-e (having written monographs about three important artists). Watanabe convinced Goyo to collaborate on a single print of a beauty in 1915, but apparently Goyo, trained in the Western style with emphasis on individual creativity, was not comfortable with working with a publisher (perhaps Watanabe in particular) and opted to go his own way and self-publish thereafter.

References:
Merritt, Point of Contact, 1993, pp. 32-35 The New Wave, 1993, pp. 45-46, and pp. 209-210, no. 288 Yokohama Museum of Art, Eyes Towards Asia: Ukiyo-e Artists from Abroad, 1996, p. 75, no. 73-a Koyama Shuko, Beautiful Shin-hanga: Revitalization of Ukiyo-e, Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum, 2009, pp. 265-267

SOLD