1899-1948
Western Style Dancing
(Buto)
dated and signed within the composition, Showa kyunen haru (spring of Showa 9 [1934]), Kiyoshi, with red artist's seal Kobayakawa, publisher's seal Hanken shoyu fukyo mosha Watanabe Shozaburo (Copyright ownership, reproduction not allowed without permission, Watanabe Shozaburo of Shobido), 1934
17 1/8 by 10 5/8 in., 43.5 by 27 cm
Kobayakawa Kiyoshi moved to Tokyo from Fukuoka Prefecture as a teenager. He studied under Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878-1972) and exhibited his Japanese-style paintings with his fellow-students at Kyodokai (Homeland Society) exhibitions. He won awards at national competitive exhibitions such as Teiten and Bunten. In the 1920s Kiyoshi became interested in ukiyo-e, and began collecting prints in order to study them. He produced a total of fifteen full-sized prints in his career, twelve of which were included in the 1936 show at the Toledo Museum of Art, Modern Japanese Prints.
In addition to his self-published large format series released in 1930-31, Styles of Contemporary Make-up (Kindaijisesho no uch), Kiyoshi produced full-sized woodblock prints with the three other publishers: Takamizawa Publishing (works based on paintings), Hasegawa Takejiro (1853-1938), and this one print with Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962). This design, featuring a moga (modern girl, a term derived from 'modangaru') dancing in a loose-fitting tunic with handkerchief hem adorned with bells in the manner of a court jester, compliments a similarly dramatic print featuring a dancer published by Hasegawa two years earlier. As Kiyoshi was a well-established by 1930s, the was head of his own atelier with a track record of success at government-sponsored exhibitions (including winning first prize at the 1933 Teiten) perhaps his position or a forceful nature facilitated his collaborations with both publishers, Hasegawa, a publisher more well-known for producing reproductions and creped-paper fairytale books, and the famously singular Watanabe, resulting in woodblock prints that successful realize the artist's distinctive vision.
References:
Kendall H. Brown, et. al., Light and Darkness: Women in Japanese Prints of Early Showa (1926-1945), Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, 1996, p. 69, cat no. 77
Amy Reigle Newland & Hamanaka Shinji, The Female Image: 20th Century Prints of Japanese Beauties, 2000, p. 148, no. 200
Ukiyo-e Modern: Shinsui, Goyo, Hasui, Tradition Thriving (Ukiyo-e Modern: Shinsui, Goyo, Hasui, dento mokuhanga no ryusei), Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, 2005, p. 24, no. 24
Koyama Shuko, Beautiful Shin Hanga- Revitalization of Ukiyo-e, Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum, 2009, p. 105, no. 3-6
Chris Uhlenbeck, Amy Reigle Newland and Maureen de Vries, Waves of Renewal: Modern Japanese Prints, 1900-1960, Selection from the Nihon no hanga Collection, 2016, p. 205, no. 140
Ukiyo-e Modern: Shinsui no bijin, Hasui no fukei, soshite...), Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, 2018, p. 160, no.282
Chris Uhlenbeck, Jim Dwinger, Philo Ouweleen, Shin hanga: The New Prints of Japan 1900-1960, 2022, p. 157, cat. 141
Abe Shuichi, Prints of Japanese Beauties in the 20th Century, 2022, p. 147, no. 227
(inv. no. 10-5776)
price: Sold