Kishio Koizumi

1893-1945

One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era: The Central Meteorological Observatory (no. 41)
(Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue: Chuo kishoba)

self-carved, self-printed; signed within the composition, Izumi in kanji and KOIZUMI KISIO in block Roman letters, print title on the upper left margin in black, Chuo kishoba, the series title on the right margin, Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue, dated and numbered, hanga kanseiban, dai hachinen kugatsu saku, yonjuichi kei (complete print series, 8th year [1933], 9th month, no. 41), and signed in pencil, Koizumi Kishio, 1933

dai oban tate-e 15 3/8 by 11 7/8 in., 39.2 by 30.2 cm

In 1928 Kishio Koizumi released the first print of this ambitious series of 100 designs. Entirely self-carved and self-printed, the series would take nine years to complete during a period of rapid expanding and rebuilding of Tokyo and tumultuous political and social change in Japan. Koizumi's views of Tokyo reflected an interest in the modernization of the city while at the same time a sense of nostalgic pride in traditional Japan.

In the annotated index Koizumi offers a universal truism: This is the place where they forecast the weather, sometimes correctly and sometimes not.

References:
James T. Ulak et. al, Tokyo: The Imperial Capital, Woodblock Prints by Koizumi Kishio, 2003, p. 65, pl. 23
James T. Ulak, Tokyo Modern-II, Koizumi Kishio's 1940 Annotations on "100 Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era," Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Visualizing Cultures (visualizingcultures.mit.edu), 2009 (Koizumi translation)
Samuel C. Morse, Reinventing Tokyo: Japan's Largest City in the Artistic Imagination, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, 2012, p. 116, no. 63
The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida, Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, no. TD1993.69.1.64
(inv. no. 10-5642)

offered as a set

price: (reserved)