Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei), 1871-1945

Nude Playing with Cat

with karazuri (blind-printing) to accentuate the curves the body, signed Hiroaki with artist's rectangular seal, Hiroaki (or Komei), and publisher's seal on the lower right margin, Hanken shoyu Fusui Gabo hakko, with printer's seal on lower left, Insetsu Onotomi (printer Onotomi), ca. 1927-30

dai oban tate-e 17 1/8 by 10 3/4 in., 43.5 by 27.2 cm

While Shotei was primarily a landscape artist, and a prolific one at that, when he did try his hand at bijin subjects the results were surprising. The three nudes which Shotei produced between 1927 and 1931 with the publisher Fusui Gabo are among the most provocative and desirable bijin shin-hanga; they are also perhaps the most rare as the Fusui Gabo headquarters was destroyed (including their inventory of blocks and prints) during World War II.

References:
Merritt, Helen, Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years, 1990, p. 99
Brown, Kendall H. & Goodall-Cristante, Hollis, Shin-Hanga, New Prints in Modern Japan, 1996, p. 64, fig. 80
Reigle Newland, Amy, and Hamanaka Shinji, The Female Image: 20th century prints of Japanese beauties, 2000, no. 147
Nihon no hanga III 1921-1930, Toshi to onna to hikari to kage to (Japanese Prints III, 1921-1930: Cities and Women, Lights and Shadows), Chiba City Museum of Art, 2001, p. 125, no. 270
Reigle Newland, Amy, gen. ed., Printed to Perfection: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection, 2004, no. 13
Shimizu, Hisao, Syotei (Hiroaki) Takahashi: His Life and Works, 2005, pl. 317
Shimizu, Hisao, The Collected Print Works of Shotei Takahashi, A Modern Ukiyo-e Painter, 2006, p105, no. 102

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