Yamakawa Shuho, 1898-1944
Women in Four Settings: Twilight
(Fujo Yondai: Tasogare)
with finely-applied mica background, signed at upper right, Shuho, followed by artist's maple leaf-shaped seal, the title on the left margin, Tasogare followed by the date, Showa sannen shigatsu saku (made in Showa 3 [1928], 4th month), published by Bijutsusha
oban tate-e 15 by 10 1/2 in., 38.2 by 26.7 cm
Yamakawa Shuho was an accomplished and prolific painter who published only a handful of woodblock prints. Bijutsusha, the publisher of this series for Shuho, is relatively unknown. The only other prints credited to the firm are a small group of landscapes by Hasui which were published around the same time as this series. The first print from this bijin-ga series Autumn (Aki), issued in 1927, sets the theme with the title identifying a specific season. The remaining three designs, Approaching Snow (Yuki moyoi), Red Collar (Akai eri), and this print, Twilight (Tasogare), imply their respective seasons (Winter, Spring and Summer) by alluding to certain seasonal associations in the titles or details in the compositions.
References:
Amy Reigle Newland and Hamanaka Shinji, The Female Image: 20th Century Prints of Japanese Beauties, 2000, p. 117, no. 155
Koyama Shuko, Beautiful Shin Hanga- Revitalization of Ukiyo-e, Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum, 2009, p. 115, no. 3-22
Andreas Marks, Seven Masters: 20th Century Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Wells Collection, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, pp. 177-178, p. 183, cat. no. 132
SOLD