1893-1945
One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era: Kanda Myojin Shrine (no. 99)
(Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue: Kanda-jinja myojin)
self-carved, self-printed; signed within the composition, Izumi in a diamond-shaped seal with stylized kanji, KOIZUMI KISIO in block Roman letters, print title on the upper left margin in black, Kanda-jinja myojin, the series title on the right margin, Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue, dated and numbered, hanga kanseiban, dai juninen juichigatsu saku, kyujukyu kei (complete print series, 12th year [1937], 11th month, no. 99), and signed in pencil, Koizumi Kishio, 1937
dai oban yoko-e 11 7/8 by 15 3/8 in., 30.2 by 39.2 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 1940 annotated index Koizumi comments with nostalgia: To the west, Sanno Shrine. To the east, Myojin. The festivals at these shrines were once the pride of Edo.
References:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Catalogue of Collections: Prints, 1993, p. 137, no. 1275
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)
The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida, Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, no. TD1993.69.1.2
(inv. no. 10-5700)
offered as a set
price: (reserved)