Kishio Koizumi

1893-1945

One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era: Spring Sumo Tournament at Kokugikan Arena (no. 59)
(Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue: Harubasho no kokugikan)

self-carved, self-printed; signed within the composition, Izumi, with artist's red archaic seal, Koizumi Kishio ga to, print title on the upper left margin in black, Harubasho no kokugikan, the series title on the right margin, Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue, dated and numbered, hanga kanseiban, dai junen ichigatsu saku, gojukyu kei (complete print series, 10th year [1935], 1st month, no. 59), and signed in pencil, Koizumi Kishio, 1935

dai oban tate-e 15 3/4 by 12 in., 40 by 30.4 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.

Koizumi comments in his 1940 annotated index like a true fan: The Spring Tournament is held here in January and the Summer Tournament in May. The wrestler Futabayama is at the top of his game.

References:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Catalogue of Collections: Prints, 1993, p. 135, no. 1255
James T. Ulak et. al, Tokyo: The Imperial Capital, Woodblock Prints by Koizumi Kishio, 2003, p. 31
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. 117, no. 64
The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida, Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, no. TD1993.69.1.47
(inv. no. 10-5660)

offered as a set

price: (reserved)