Kakunen Tsuruoka

1892-1977

Mountain Pines and Curry Village with Half Dome Silhouette

ink and color on paper (with folds and losses at the edges and corners); signed Kakunen with artist's rectangular seal Kakunen, and oval Tsuruoka family seal on verso, n.d., ca. 1930s

20 3/4 by 5 3/8 in., 52.6 by 13.7 cm

In 1936 Kakunen initiated a collaboration with the Japanese publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962) to produce a group of woodblock prints of primarily American landscapes. The four completed designs were Night Mist Over San Francisco City Hall (1936), Golden Gate Bridge (1937), Carmel Highlands at Twilight (1938), and a larger scale print of a family friend's beloved pet, Parrot on a Camellia Branch (1940). There was also a test print completed in 1936 of Half Dome After Rain, Yosemite National Park, which for unknown reasons never made it into production. Kakunen may have produced this watercolor around the same time that he was working on the composition for the Half Dome print as the silhouette of the mountain obscured by mist appears to be that of the distinctive landmark located in Yosemite National Park. The timber constructed buildings tucked against the hillside are similar to the type that could be found at Camp Curry, also known as Half Dome Village, a tented camp established in 1899 which developed into a concession for tourists in the park offering a lodge, cabins, dining facilities and even a post office. A 1921 advertisement for the camp features a photograph of "A Typical Bungalow Setting" with nearly the identical silhouette of the Half Dome in the distance.

(inv. no. C-1662)

price: Sold