Félix Hilaire Buhot

1847-1898

Reading Room in Japan
(Le Cabinet de Lecture au Japan)

etching on paper, signed within the plate at lower left corner, Tohub (Buhot backwards), ca. 1873

image 2 5/8 by 5 3/8 in., 6.7 by 13.8 cm
sheet 8 3/8 by 11 3/4 in, 21.4 by 29.7 cm

Born in Valognes, France, Félix Buhot was a painter and illustrator whose experimental techniques made him one of the most influential printmakers in his time. His prints were well received at the annual Salons in Paris between 1875 and 1886, and his one-man show in New York with print dealer Frederick Keppel in February 1888 was a success, garnering a review in the New York Times that likewise mentions a recent article on Buhot in Harper's Monthly by the "distinguished critic," Philippe Burty (1830-1890).

This is one of the earlier Japanese-themed etchings produced by Buhot shortly before he began working on designs for his seminal portfolio, Japonisme, dix eaux-fortes, comprised of etchings he made in circa 1875 illustrating Japanese objects selected from Burty's personal collection. Burty is credited with coining the term Japonisme three years earlier in a series of articles published in 1872 in La Renaissance littéraire et artistique. Although Buhot originally produced the etchings in 1875, the Japonisme portfolio was published in April of 1888, to coincide with a major Japanese art exhibition at the Gallery Georges Petit in Paris which was organized by Louis Gonse (1846-1921), the Director and Editor-in-Chief of the Gazette des Beaux-Arts and included works on loan from Burty, and S. Bing (1938-1905). Buhot was truly at the nexus of the Japonisme circle of artists and influencers.

References:
Philippe Burty, Félix Buhot, Painter and Etcher in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, LXXVI, February 1888, pp. 333-334
The New York Times, Felix Buhot, The Etcher, February 15, 1888
Phillip Dennis Cate, Félix Buhot & Japonisme in The Print Collector's Newsletter, 1975, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 64-67
Gustave Bourcard & James Goodfriend, Felix Buhot: Catalogue Descriptif de son Oeuvre Grave, 1979, no. 53
Van Gogh Museum, object no. p1797S2000
(inv. no. 10-5507)

$1,100

Félix Hilaire Buhot

1847-1898

The Flying Fish
(Le Poisson Volant)

etching on paper, signed tohub (Buhot backwards), ca. 1873

image 5 3/8 by 2 5/8 in., 13.8 by 6.7 cm
sheet 11 3/4 by 8 3/8 in, 29.7 by 21.4 cm

Buhot's design is playful combination of images and nonsensical text from varying ukiyo-e print sources. The bird in the upper half of the composition is lifted directly from the 1857 print, Komakata Hall and Azuma Bridge from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858).

References:
Gabriel P. Weisberg, et al., Japonisme: Japanese Influence on French Art 1854-1910, pp. 80-85, illus. p. 83, no. 97
Gustave Bourcard & James Goodfriend, Felix Buhot: Catalogue Descriptif de son Oeuvre Grave, 1979, no. 52
The New York Public Library, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, S.P. Avery Collection, b12390850
Van Gogh Museum, object no. p1798S2000
(inv. no. 10-5508)

$1,100

Calendar for 1883 (early state without text), New York Public Library



Calendar for 1884 (final state with text), New York Public Library

Henri-Charles Guérard

1846-1897

Calendar for 1884 (intermediate state)
((Calendrier pour 1884))

etching with drypoint, signed within the matrix in the lower left corner where the faux sheet curls upward, H. Guerard, 1884

12 3/4 by 18 3/4 in., 32.5 by 47.5 cm

Paris-born Henri-Charles Guérard was a painter, etcher and occaisional lithographer whose whimsical Japanese-inspired prints and illustrations epitomized the culture discovery and delight amongst collectors, artists and literati engaged in the milieu of Japonsime. Born in Paris, Guérard studied architecture at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, but drifted towards an artistic career and in 1870 became a student of the painter and engraver Nicolas Berthon. In 1873 he and Dr. Paul Gachet (of Van Gogh fame) were put in charge of the illustrations in a weekly magazine, and he came in contact with artists such as Edouard Manet, who became his close friend.

In 1879 Guérard married Eva Gonzales, one of Manet's students and models, and they moved to a farm near Honfleur where they socialized with other prominent Impressionist artists such as Paul Cézanne. His son Jean Raymond was born in 1883, but Eva died in childbirth, and his friend Manet died less than two weeks later. Guérard fell into a deep depression and it was years before he recovered. Five years later he remarried to his sister-in-law Jeanne Gonzales, who was also an artist, and it was around the same time that he provided over 200 illustrations for Louis Gonse's seminal two-volume publication, L'Art Japonais which was published in 1888. This was followed an album of ten etchings titled Japonisme. In 1889 he and artists Félix Bracquemond (1833-1914), Félix Buhot (1847-1898) and the dealer Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1922) founded the Société des Peintres-Graveurs Francais (Society of French Painter-Engravers).

This composition presents an amusing scene decorated with several paper lanterns, one announcing the year of 1884, populated by an assemblage of Hokusai style figures surrounding a twelve-panel folding screen and two stylish Parisian women, one wearing a kimono, both holding fans. This state represents and intermediate stage of the design, in a later state the screen panels will list a calendar of events with one month per panel.

References:
Gabriel P. Weisberg, et al., Japonisme: Japanese Influence on French Art 1854-1910, pp. 78-80, illus. no. 89 (Calendar, 1884)
Darrel C. Karl, Enthralled with Japan: The Prints of Henri-Charles Guérard, Eastern Impressions, easternimp.blogspot.com
The New York Public Library, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, object no. 115143 (Calendar for 1883); object no. 115144 (Calendar for 1884)
(inv. no. 10-5509)

References:
Darrel C. Karl, Enthralled with Japan: The Prints of Henri-Charles Guérard, Eastern Impressions, easternimp.blogspot.com, (biography excerpt)
The New York Public Library, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, object no. 115143 (Calendar for 1883); object no. 115144 (Calendar for 1884)
(inv. no. 10-5509)

SOLD

Mortimer Menpes

1855-1938

A Tranquil Waterway, Japan

drypoint, platetone, printed in brown ink on paper, signed in pencil on the bottom margin, Mortimer Mempes imp. (self-printed), ca. 1897

image 7 7/8 by 9 7/8 in., 20 by 25 cm
frame 16 3/8 by 20 1/8 in, 41.5 by 51 cm

Mortimer Luddington Menpes was born in Adelaide, Australia, the second son of James and Ann Menpes. Both parents were originally from England, where they returned with their two sons and two daughters after the senior Mr. Menpes retired from a prosperous venture at property development in Adelaide. Mortimer was 20 years old when he moved to England in 1875, and he began studying at the School of Art in London in 1878. Two years later his first work was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London.

In 1880 he went on a sketch tour of Brittany, France, where he met the artist James McNeil Whistler (1834-1903) and became his student. Whistler taught Menpes etching techniques and elements of Japanese art and design. For several years the artists were quite close, even living together in a flat on the Chelsea Embankment in London for a period. The relationship severed when Whistler felt betrayed by Menpes who embarked on his own to Japan in 1887, leaving a letter announcing his departure to avoid confrontation. Although Japanese art had been extremely influential in artistic circles for quite some time, particularly since the International Exhibition of 1862 held in South Kensignton, Whistler felt artistically it was his own (although he had never been to Japan himself) and couldn't abide by his student undermining his legitimacy as the preeminent Japanesque artist and resented his student's audacity in seeking the source. The quarrel deepened when Menpes returned and held a one-man exhibition at Dowdeswell's Gallery in London in 1888 featuring paintings and etchings from his journey, and in the same year, moved into a property at 25 Cadogan Gardens, Sloan Square, designed by A.H. Mackmurdo, that was decorated in a Japanese style which Whistler felt was a copy of his own ideas. The interiors were later prominently profiled in The Studio magazine in 1899.

This etching is the mirror image of on a painting titled 'Over the Bridge' which Menpes included in his 1901 memoir, Japan: A Record in Colour.

References:
An Experiment in the Application of Japanese Ornament to the Decoration of an English House, The Studio, August 1899, vol. 17, no. 77, pp. 170-177
Mortimer Menpes, Japan: A Record in Colour, 1901, illus. opposite p. 34 ('Over the Bridge' watercolor)
Art Gallery of South Australia, accession no. 20096G58
(inv. no. 10-5104)

SOLD

Max Schodl

1834-1921

Still Life with Shibayama and Okimono

oil on panel, signed and dated at upper right corner, Max Schödl 1905, with paper label for gilding company, Rudolf Bauer K.K. Hofvergolder (Imperial and Royal Court Gilder) attached to verso, 1905

panel 11 3/8 by 9 5/8 in., 29 by 24.5 cm
frame 21 5/8 by 19 7/8 in., 55 by 50.5 cm

Born in 1834, Max Schödl was a student at the Vienna Academy and became a master 'Orientalist' painter of lush still-life subjects, frequently featuring an assemblage of Asian and Near Eastern objects arranged on draped fabrics shimmering with embroideries. He was famed for his skill in capturing life-like details and surfaces of lavish materials.

This painting appears to be in the original frame as chosen by the artist. An oil on panel painting of the same size from 1906 titled 'Mein Atelier' (My Studio) by Schödl includes a portrait (possibly a self-portrait) perched on an easel with virtually exactly the same carved dark wood moldings highlighted with a thin strip of gilt molding nearest the painting.

Reference:
Property from the Estate of Richard D. Bass, Part I, Christie's, March 29, 2016, lot 379
(inv. no. 10-4214)

$3,500

attributed to J. I. Block

1863-1943

The Ameya, after Robert Frederick Blum

oil on canvas, signed at lower left, J.I. Block (or H. Block), with possible date, 1911 (or just '19'), ca. early 20th century

painting 16 by 13 1/2 in., 40.6 by 34.3 cm
frame 20 7/8 by 18 1/4 in, 53 by 46.5 cm

This painting is a study of the left half of the famous Japonisme oil on canvas, The Ameya (the candy blower) painted by Robert Frederick Blum (1857-1903), with a focus on the primary subject, the street vendor engaged in the act of amezaiku. Blum painted his masterpiece in circa 1892 towards the end of a two-year residency in Japan. He was in Japan on commission to illustrate a series of articles for Scribner's Magazine. Between 1890 and 1891, Blum's illustrations accompanied four articles written by Sir Edwin Arnold, and a fifth article by John Henry Wigmore was published in July 1891. After completing his initial commission for the magazine by March of that year, he turned his attention subjects that were of interest to him, resulting in a three-part article by Blum titled 'An Artist's Letters from Japan' that Scribner's published in the April, May and June 1893 issues. His painting, The Ameya, was reproduced for the final installment of the series. Upon his return to New York, the painting was acquired by his patron, Alfred Corning Clark (1844-1896), who loaned it to the March 1893 annual exhibition of the National Academy of Design (3 months before Scribner's published it) where it was reviewed by The New York Times and was believed to have prompted the artist's subsequent election as a member of the Academy. The Ameya was exhibited in Europe in 1899-1900 at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1899-1900 and published in the accompanying catalogue. The New York Times mentioned the painting again in the artist's obituary in June of 1903, as "His most ambitious canvas." The following year it was the first image illustrated in an exhibition catalogue of the late artist's work on view at M. Knoedler & Co. in New York, after which the Clark estate donated the painting to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Widely regarded as Blum's most accomplished work and a compositional tour de force, the painting continued to be published, including, but not limited to an illustration in Century Magazine in September of 1911 (the possible year date on this canvas); an illustration in a 1913 exhibition catalogue for the Berlin Photographic Company New York; and an illustration in the prominent International Studio Magazine 82 in November 1925. Attention waned during the inter-war and immediate post-war period before interest in Japonimse sparked anew in the latter half of the 20th century and the Blum's painting was yet again exhibited and published (too frequently to itemize here).

All of which is to say, the artist who produced this study may have been working from published reproduction of the painting or had the opportunity to view and copy it in person while it was publicly exhibited in New York or Paris. The signature appears to read H. Block or, more likely, J.I. Block, suggesting a plausible attribution to the academic painter Josef Israel Block (German, 1863-1943). Block was an early member of the Berlin and Munich Secession movements (and a colleague of the Austrian artist and Japanophile Emil Orlik, 1870-1932). He traveled to the United States in 1893 in order to attend the Chicago World's Fair where he won a medal for his painting of two figures in an interior setting, Dämmerung ('Twilight'). Block's oeuvre is comprised primarily of portraits, genre scenes, and biblical subjects. An oil on canvas titled Grablegung ('Entombment,' current whereabouts unknown) seen in the background of a photo of the artist at work in his studio is tantalizingly evocative of a similar subject by Blum, Study for Christ After Ribera, 1882, in the collection of the Cincinnati Art Museum (accession no. 1905.144). A monograph on Block published in 2010 lists 146 recorded works by the artist, and illustrates several paintings, few with visible signatures that bear a resemblance to the signature on this study. Additional research is needed to confirm this attribution and explore further connections between the life and work of Block and Blum.

References (on Blum):
The New York Times, March 24, 1893
R. Blum, Scribner's Magazine 13, An Artist's Letters from Japan, June 1893 (The Ameya- a Curious Crowd)
The New York Times, June 9, 1903 (Blum's obituary)
M. Knoedler & Co., New York, Exhibition of Paintings and Studies by the Late Robert Frederick Blum, 1904, no. 1
Cincinnati Art Museum, Exhibition of Paintings and Studies by the Late Robert Frederick Blum, 1905
Century Magazine, 60, September 1911, collor Illus. opp. p. 635 M. Birnhaum, Robert Frederick Blum, Berlin Photographic Company, New York, 1913
J. W. Harrington, International Studio 82, November 1925, ill. p. 92
John Caldwell, et. al, American Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1980, pp. 301-304, illus. p. 303
Julia Meech-Pekarik, Early Collectors of Japanese Prints and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum Journal 17, 1984, pp. 103-104, illus. no. 16
Christine Shimizu, ,Le Japon du XIX Siecle, 1990, illus. p. 182 and cover
Lionel Lambourne, Japonisme: Cultural Crossings between Japan and the West, 2005, pp. 135-137, no. 159, and illus. title page
Gabriel P. Weisberg, The Orient Expressed: Japanese Influence on Western Art, 1854-1918, 2011, p. 66, no. 91
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Quarantined in Traction!, Cincinnati Art Museum Blog, 5/21/2020 (Blum, 'Study for Christ After Ribera')

References (on Josef Block):
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Research in the Kunstbibliothek. The Painter Josef Block, 15.12.17 to 28.01.2018 (photo of the artist in his studio)
Klaus-Dieter Spangenberg, Josef Block: Maler der Berliner und Munchner Secession, 2010, p. 79, no. 36, image of Grablegung ('Entombment'); p. 154 (re: visiting Chicago)
(inv. no. 10-4957)

$1,800

in period frame

Hiroshi Yoshida

1876-1950

Shiozaki

watercolor on paper, mounted on watercolor board, titled and signed Shiozaki, H. Yoshida, ca. 1900

painting 20 1/2 by 41 3/8 in., 52 by 105 cm
period frame 26 5/8 by 47 1/2 in, 67.7 by 120.5 cm

Born Ueda Hiroshi in Fukuoka Prefecture into a family that had been of samurai rank, in 1891 Hiroshi was adopted by his art teacher Yoshida Kasaburo (1861-1894) who recognized the young man's innate talent. Kasaburo was trained in traditional Japanese painting techniques but had become a pioneer in Western-style painting known as yoga. In 1893 at the age of seventeen, Yoshida traveled to Kyoto in order to study with his adoptive father's former yoga teacher, Tamura Soryu (1846-1918) where he befriended another young artist, Miyake Katsumi (1874-1954). Miyake had recently been inspired to pursue watercolor painting after having seen an exhibition in Tokyo of paintings by the British artist John Varley, Jr. (1850-1933) and Yoshida was likewise deeply impressed by Miyake's efforts in the medium. The admiration was mutual, of Yoshida, Miyake said, "He is a kind of genius and I am astonished by his talent" (translated by Yasunaga, 2002, p. 24). The following year in 1894, Yoshida moved to Tokyo to study painting under another yoga pioneer, Koyama Shotaro (1857-1916) in his private academy, Fudosha.

While Yoshida would have primarily worked in oil painting at the Fudosha Academy, he also developed into a skillful watercolorist. Yoshida recognized that while it was easy to paint watercolors, most artists underestimated how difficult it was to excel at it. He later wrote in a 1907 memoir, "...many Japanese artists do not devote themselves to watercolors in the same way they would if they were working in oil. They make 'easy watercolors, which display no taste or substance." (Yasunaga, p. 25). Yoshida made his point with a monumental watercolor titled 'High Mountains and Stream' (59 by 106 1/4 in; 150 by 270 cm) that was exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900 where it won an award and made Yoshida famous as a watercolor artist in Japan. Unfortunately, photographs of the work or its installation have not surfaced, and the whereabouts of the painting itself is unknown.

In October of 1899, six months before the Paris Exposition opened, the very independently-minded twenty-three year old Yoshida embarked on his first trip (of three) to the United States with his friend and fellow-painter, Nakagawa Hachiro (1877-1922), where they managed to arrange several exhibitions in the Midwest and New England, beginning with a large show at the Detroit Museum of Art displaying twenty-five works by Nakagawa and ninety-two works by Yoshida.

This watercolor appears to date to the same period and is one of the largest (widest) Yoshida watercolors extant. Stylistically it is similar to his early dated watercolors which are painted with misleadingly loose brushwork that belies his accomplished technique and suggests influence from Impressionist paintings. Likewise, the signatures and titles (if any) are brushed expressively on his early paintings; only a few years later the signatures on his paintings are generally neater and more evenly spaced. Yoshida identifies the location as Shiozaki (in Yamanashi Prefecture), and the banners announce a festival; the right banner reads gosairei (ritual festival), and the far-left banner reads Benzaiten gosaire.

The painting has been in America for well over a century, and according to family lore it was purchased directly from Yosihida while he was in California in circa 1890, which is possible because he did enter the country via San Francisco in 1899. Documents accompanying the painting record an old gallery label on verso (now lost) which read: "H.K. Vickery/ Publisher and Art Dealer/ 224 Post Street/ San Francisco" and the name of the painting's first owners: "V.F. Dakin/ Mrs. F. H. Dakin / Berkeley." The gallery label (slightly misread) was that of William Kingston ('W. K') Vickery, later of the Vickery, Atkins & Torrey interior design firm and gallery in San Francisco that helped introduce California to Impressionism. Vickery established the company in 1888 with his nephew Henry Atkins and in 1891 they brought in Frederick Torrey who was a specialist in prints and Chinese porcelain. An advertisement in The Pacific Unitarian from that same year confirms the location at 224 Post Street in a newly-designed gallery offering an exhibition of watercolor landscapes. It wasn't until 1900 that the company changed its name to reflect all of the principals, suggesting that the painting was framed by Vickery beforehand.

The owners were prominent collectors of Asian and California art, Mrs. & Mrs. Frederick H. Dakin, who supported the local artistic community and Berkeley's nascent art colony. Mr. Dakin made his first fortune importing curios from Japan, and later invested in real estate and gold mines. In 1905, he and his son Clarence built the first professional building in Berkeley, The Studio Building, located at the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Addison Street. The fifth floor of the building was designed by Dakin's famous artist brother, Edwin Deakin (1838-1923, the former changed the spelling of his name a few years earlier), with gallery space and artist's studios (hence the building's name). Family documents mention that Deakin copied the Yoshida painting and titled it Shizaki (likely the copy recently located in the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida). On December 1, 1906, the building opened with an inaugural 'First Exhibition' at the Studio Building (also known as the 'Art Loan Exhibition') with of works by local and out-of-town artists, including this painting which was listed in the catalog. The painting is also accompanied by a letter from Hiroshi Yoshida's wife, Fujio Yoshida (1887-1987) dated April 22, 1971, and addressed to Mrs. Arkelian, the granddaughter of the original purchasers. In the letter, Fujio recalls the painting and that she and her husband visited Mrs. Frederick Dakin when they returned to the states in 1923 and "we wer invited to some house and saw this painting we was very happy to see it [sic])." There are also documents drafted by Marjorie Dakin Arkelian (1916-1980), who was an art historian and appraiser, recording the history of the painting with correspondence with the Detroit Institute of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Provenance:
Virginia F. & Frederick H. Dakin, Berkely, California
Frederick H. Dakin, Jr., Berkely, California
George F. Dakin, Oakland, California
Marjorie Dakin Arkelian, Berkely, California
Private Collection, San Francisco, California

Exhibited:
First Exhibition, The Studio Building, Dec. 1906, no. 13

References:
Yoshida Hiroshi, Afurika Yoroppa Amerika Shasei Ryoko (A Sketching Trip to Africa, Europe and America), Nihon Hagaki Kai, 1907
Fukuoka Art Museum, Hiroshi Yoshida Exhibition, A Master of Modern Landscape Painting, 1996, pp. 30-51 (several watercolors from same period) Yasunaga Koichi, Lofty Mountains and Misty Valleys, The Art and Life of Yoshida Hiroshi, in, A Japanese Legacy: Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists, 2002, pp. 23-33
Jennie V. Cannon, Sanctuary: Berkeley's First Art Colony (1906-1911), in The Untold History of the Carmel and Berkeley Art Colonies, volume 1, 2012, pp. 77-80
The Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Florida, object no. SN11557.1, Shiozaki watercolor attributed to Yoshida (with pencil outlined possibly spurious signature)
(inv. no. 10-5304)

SOLD

as laid down to card stock

Hiroshi Yoshida

1876-1950

Mount Fuji

watercolor on paper, mounted on cardstock, signed H. Yoshida, ca. 1900-05

13 3/4 by 20 1/2 in., 35 by 52 cm

In September 1899, Yoshida and his colleague Nakagawa Hachiro (1877-1922) from the Fudosha painting academy each bought one-way tickets to the United States. The young men were inspired in part by the success of Yoshida's friend, Miyake Katsumi (1874-1954), who had journeyed to the States in 1897 and had made enough money selling his watercolors that he was able to stay until 1899. Yoshida was also prompted by a letter of invitation from the collector Charles L. Freer (1854-1919) who he had met when Freer requested an introduction from the Samurai Tading Company in Yokohama after buying one of Yoshida's watercolors. After their ship departed in October from the port of Yokohama there was a fire onboard, but fortunately they, and their art, survived the ordeal. When the two arrived in San Francisco they went directly to Detroit and were disappointed to discover their potential patron was away. In a remarkable reversal of fortune, while sketching at the Detroit Museum of Art they met the Director, Armand Griffith, who took an interest in their work and organized a very successful selling exhibition at the museum which included 92 works by Yoshida and 25 by Nakagawa. A total of 40 pieces sold (33 by Yoshida), including onene large painting (brilliantly titled 'Memories of Japan') which was purchased by a special subscription by the citizens of Detroit for $500 (the equivalent of $16,750 today).

In January of 1900, Yoshida and Nakagawa built on their triumph in Detroit with a similar maneuver in Boston where they held an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, raising almost $3,000 more. This was followed by shows in Washington D.C. and Providence, Rhode Island. They used the funds raised from the shows to journey to Europe in the Spring, visiting England in the summer and Paris to see the World Exposition where Yoshida had a monumental painting (nearly 5 ft high and almost 9 ft long) included in the Japanese section, and then on to Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Upon hearing that a group of four of his fellow students from the Fudosha academy were en route to the states, Yoshida returned to meet up with them in Boston in November 1900. The 'Six Artists' assembled the Exhibition of Water-Color Paintings by Japanese Painters which opened at the Boston Art Club on December 5th. The exhibition was covered in the Boston Globe and drew more than 18,000 visitors a week. Of the 285 works on view, nearly half sold and sales totaled $4,725 (almost $160,000 today).

This pattern was repeated when Yoshida returned to the states in 1903, this time traveling with the daughter of his adoptive father, Fujio Yoshida (1887-1987), who was also an artist (they would later marry in 1907). The 'Brother-Sister' tour began with their arrival early in January 1904 in Seatle and they traveled by train to Boston. In February they held a 'Two Artists' exhibition at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, followed by several exhibitions zigzagging in the region: Worcester in early March, back to Providence at the Deborah Cook Sayles Library on March 19, Walter Kimball's Gallery in Boston on April 1, W. H. Stadden's Galleries in Springfield on April 20. In May, three of Hiroshi Yoshida's paintings were shown at the St. Louis World Exposition. By October they were exhibiting in Chicago, November was in Cleveland, and December in Pittsburg. In January 1905 they exhibited at Clausen Gallery in New York City followed by shows in Philadelphia and Washington D.C., then back up to Boston for a show at the Richards Gallery in December 1905.

The extraordinary American enthusiasm for the watercolors by Japanese artists offered in these traveling exhibitions, and the appreciation for works by Hiroshi Yoshida in particular, is the reason why many of Yoshida's finest early paintings are located in the United States. This view of Mount Fuji was acquired in New Hampshire, a state immediately to the north of Massachusetts where Yoshida had no less than nine recorded exhibitions (three in 1990, six in 1904-05) in those early years. With so much of his exhibition activity concentrated in the region of New England (he returned to Boston again in 1924), it is not surprising that Yoshida also produced paintings of landscapes of the area, many of which he sold back in Japan. The size of this painting and the misty atmosphere is similar to several Yoshida watercolors dated from circa 1900 to 1905.

References:
Ogura Tadao, Chronological History, in Yoshida Hiroshi zenhangashu (The Complete Woodblock Prints of Hiroshi Yoshida), 1987, pp. 178-193
Fukuoka Art Museum, Hiroshi Yoshida Exhibition, A Master of Modern Landscape Painting, 1996, pp. 40-51 (several watercolors from same period)
Yasunaga Koichi, Lofty Mountains and Misty Valleys, The Art and Life of Yoshida Hiroshi, in, A Japanese Legacy: Four Generations of Yoshida Family Artists, 2002, pp. 23-33
(inv. no. 10-5070)

SOLD

Emil Orlik

1870-1932

Japanese Woman in Winter Dress
(Japanerin im Winterkleid)

soft-ground etching; signed and dated, below the image, Emil Orlik 1920, titled in pencil in the artist's hand along the bottom edge in left corner, Japanerin im Winterkleid, and numbered in lower right corner, 71; plate etched in 1901, this impression pulled in 1920

plate 9 1/2 by 6 3/8 in, 24 by 16.2 cm
sheet 15 1/8 by 10 7/8 in, 38.5 by 27.7 cm

Orlik originally produced this composition in two versions in 1901 while he was living in Japan, this etching, and a lithograph of the same design in mirror image bearing his square 'EO' monogram behind the woman's head. There is also an undated test print extant in which the only ink on the woman's kimono is a hint of shading near the headscarf.

References:
Birgit Ahrens & Rudiger Joppien, Wie ein Traum (Emil Orlik in Japan), 2012, p. 92, no. 31 (lithograph); pp. 118-119, nos. 48-49 (test print)
Agnes Matthias, Zwischen Japan und Amerika, Emil Orlik, Ein Kunstler der Jahrhundertwende, 1993, p. 85, no. 108
(inv. no. 10-5403)

SOLD

Emil Orlik

1870-1932

Twilight
(Dämmerung)

color etching printed in brown; signed in pencil below the plate, Orlik, with various other inscriptions in pencil at the edges including the title possibly in the artist's hand in the lower left corner, 37 Dammering II, ca. 1901-02

10 1/2 by 8 1/4 in., 26.8 by 21 cm

This print was included as plate number twelve and titled In the Evening (Im Abend) in Orlik's portfolio of etchings Aus Japan featuring images from his 1900-02 residency in Japan. During his time in Japan, Orlik distinguished himself as the first Western artist to truly learn traditional Japanese color woodblock carving and printing, and he shared his knowledge with visiting foreign artists including Helen Hyde (1868-1919) and S. C. Bosch Reitz (1860-1938), the future first curator of Far Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The etching is based on an oil on board painting of the same subject dated 1901 currently in the collection of Darrel P. Karl. The painting is similarly atmospheric and very nearly monotone but for the warm-hued glow emanating from the interior seen beyond the two figures, and the clarifying detail of red on the semicircular paper lantern suspended above the open shoji panels.

References:
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America, 1990, pp. 114-116, no. 71
Birgit Ahrens & Rudiger Joppien, Wie ein Traum (Emil Orlik in Japan), 2012, pp. 104-105, no. 40
Agnes Matthias, Zwischen Japan und Amerika, Emil Orlik, Ein Kunstler der Jahrhundertwende, 1993, p. 91 (Karl Collection painting)
(inv. no. 10-5224)

SOLD

as mounted on original cardstock

Emil Orlik

1870-1932

Woman Gathering Wood in a Forest
(Holzsammlerin im Walde)

mounted on brown cardstock inscribed on lower left corner, EMIL ORLIK, and to the right, DREIFARBIGER ORIGINALHOLZCHNITT (original three-color woodcut), included in the first issue of the monthly art periodical, Kunst und Kunstler (Art and Artist) published by Bruno Cassirer, Berlin, edition size unknown but scarce, 1903

print 5 7/8 by 4 7/8 in., 14.9 by 12.5 cm
backing 12 1/2 by 9 3/4 in., 31.8 cm by 24.9 cm

Emil Orlik was born in Prague in 1890, when it was still a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a student he moved to Germany in 1889 in order to enroll at the Academy of Fine Art in Munich, although he wasn't admitted until 1891. Orlik quickly gained recognition at the academy; however, in 1893 he left before graduating because he began to feel stifled by his professors who objected to his experimentations with etching and lithography. He was a prolific artist; in addition to his paintings and etchings, Orlik produced magazine and book illustrations, poster, stage and costume designs.

In 1896 he began to develop his own style of color woodcut. Together with a friend from the academy, Orlik made use of an article which had been recently published in English, Japanese Wood-Cutting and Wood-Cut Printing (Smithsonian, 1892), which was written by T. Tokuno, the head of the Japanese Bureau of Engraving and Printing. In 1898 Orlik went on a tour of Europe, including England, Scotland, Belgium, Holland, and his first visit to Paris, where he became more keenly aware of the French interpretation of Japanese art: Japonisme. This inspired Orlik to pursue the source: in March 1900 he traveled to Japan with the specific intention of learning as much as possible about Japanese woodblock printmaking. He was a determined student: he studied the language in advance, and within a few months he was conversant enough to explore Tokyo and the countryside on his own. While in Japan, Orlik met the young American artist Helen Hyde (1868-1919), who sought his help and advice on carving and printing (Mason & Mason). He stayed in Japan until November 1901, producing woodblock prints as well as lithographs and etchings, some of which were completed upon his return to Europe.

References:
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America, 1990, pp. 114-115
Tim Mason & Lynn Mason, American Printmakers: Helen Hyde, 1991, p. 19
Yokohama Museum of Art, Eyes Towards Asia: Ukiyo-e Artists from Abroad, 1996, p. 29, no. 10 (titled 'Winter Mood')
Limited Edition Graphics, London, www.orlikprints.com, Post 1902, single/230

(inv. no. C-3041)

SOLD

Henri Rivière

1864-1951

Misty Morning in Loguivy
(Matin de brume à Logivy)

color lithograph with artist's monogram HR monogram in lower right corner, printed and published by Eugène Verneau, 1903

13 3/8 by 8 5/8 in., 34 by 22 cm

Born in Paris in 1864, Benjamin Jean Piere Henri Rivière (who went by Henri), was one of the earlier European artists to experiment with producing color woodblock prints using the Japanese method. He began life in a middleclass merchant family, with the expectation that as an adult he would carry on in a similar manner. When he came of age his mother arranged a job for him at an ostrich-feather importation business where he lasted only one week before he left work in order to go painting. Although his mother was not pleased, his stepfather intervened and introduced Henri to the painter Emile Bin (1825-1897) who took the young man on as a student. From 1880, Rivière began contributing illustrations to magazines and journals, meanwhile his boyhood friend Paul Signac (1863-1935) introduced him to the cabaret scene in Montmarte. Rivière began edited and contributed reviews and articles to the Chat Noir's weekly journal for a period between 1882-1885. It was at the Chat Noir that Rivière developed an innovative revival of 'ombres chinoises' (Chinese shadows), based on the European version of Chinese shadow puppet shows which had been popular starting in the mid-18th century.

Rivière was a subscriber to Sigfried Bing's Le Japon Artistique (released in English as Artistic Japan) and frequented the dealer's gallery, becoming a collector of Japanese art himself. Rivière began experimenting with woodblock printmaking along with a friend of his, the artist Auguste Louis-Lepère (1849-1918), both worked on carving, mixing their own pigments and printing on imported paper. From 1888, Rivière started a series of landscapes featuring views of the Eiffel Tower as it was going up in Paris that was modeled after the series Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), directly referencing it his series title, Les Trentes-six Vues de la Tour Eiffel (Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower). Although Rivière intended to produce it with color woodblock prints, he realized early on that it was far too labor-intensive to pull off in an edition of 500, so he switched to color lithography to complete the project. In addition to the views of Paris, Rivière favored idyllic rural landscapes or subjects related to the seaside near Brittany, a region where he usually spent his summer months. Other color lithograph series followed, including multiple ambitious projects working at the publishing house of Eugène Verneau for months at a time every winter starting in 1897 through 1906. Together the artist and a technician named René Toutain developed techniques to achieve gradations of color that were previously not possible in color lithography.

Rivière represents an intriguing a conduit of influence between Japanese and Western artists. In his time, Rivière was so inspired by ukiyo-e woodblock prints he tried his hand at carving and printing using Japanese techniques. Inspired by Hokusai's compositions in particular, he modeled his own series depicting views of the Eiffel Tower from various vantage points around Paris after Hokusai's views of Mount Fuji series. Although Rivière stopped producing prints in 1917 (he did continue to work in watercolors), the following year, the Japanese artist Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) published his first woodblock print which was in the style of an emerging genre that came to be known as shin-hanga (lit. 'new print'). Hasui almost exclusively designed landscape subjects, usually idyllic pastoral scenes. Often the composition and color palette of Hasui prints resonate closely with that of Rivière, suggesting that the Japanese artist was influenced by the French artist...who himself had been influenced by Japanese artists. Within a few decades the thread of influence, from ukiyo-e, to French color lithographs, and back to Japanese shin-hanga, had come full circle.

References:
Karin Breuer, Japanesque: The Japanese Print in the Era of Impressionism, 2010, pp. 96-106
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation, accession no. 2003.151.45
Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, object no. 82.056.031
(inv. no. C-3390)

$950

Amédée Joyau

1872-1913

On the Cliff, Donville
(Sur la Falaise, Donville)

zinc color print on vellum paper, with artist's A monogram in lower right corner, numbered and signed in ink in the lower left margin, 1/100 Amédée Joyau, with artist's further notations (unread) along the bottom edge of the paper in ink and at left and in pencil at right, ca 1906

12 5/8 by 17 1/2 in., 32 by 44.5 cm

Amédée Joyau was a painter, etcher and engraver from Paris who was know for his Japonisme prints that also suggest he was influenced by his compatriot, Henri Rivière (1864-1951). In 1894 Joyau was deeply inspired by an exhibition of Japanese woodblock prints and five years later, in 1889, Joyau went to Japan. After he returned to France the following year he began producing color woodblock prints. Three of his 'wood engravings' were exhibited in the French exhibition at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, 'The Sea,' 'The Cliffs, Moonlight, and 'The Return of the Sardine Fishers,' although his name was spelled as Amedée Joyan in the official catalog. In 1911 he was one of the original members of the Société de la gravure sur bois originale (Society of Original Wood Engravers).

The impression in the collection of the Institut National D'Histoire de L'Art Library is numbered 8/50 and has similar notations on the bottom edge which are easier to read than on this example, with the number of the design, method of production, title with location, and date: 68 (bois sur zinc) Sur la Falaise, près Donville, 1906 (number 68, wood on zinc, On the Cliff near Donville 1906).

References:
Official Catalog of Exhibitors, Universal Exposition St. Louis USA 1904, p. 154, Joyan, Amedée [sic], 'The Sea,' 'The Cliffs, Moonlight,' and 'The Return of the Sardine Fishers'
Atherton Curtis, Catalogue de l'oeuvre gravé de Amédée Joyau, 1938, no. 62
Barbara J. Thompson, The International Block Print Renaissance, Then and Now: Block Prints in Wichita, Kansas, A Centennial Celebration, 2022, p. 230
Institut National D'Histoire de L'Art, reference no. EM JOYAU 31
(inv. no. 10-5212)

$1,400

B. J. O. Nordfeldt

1878-1955

The Bridge

color woodblock print; self-carved, self-printed, signed numbered and dated in pencil at lower right (in his typical scrawl), Bror J. Olsson Nordfelft, no. 79, 1906

8 1/8 by 10 1/2 in., 20.7 by 26.7 cm

Born in Sweden, at the age of thirteen Nordfeldt moved to Chicago where he found work as a young man as a printer's devil and compositor for a local Swedish-language paper. In 1899 he enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he was selected by his instructor Albert Herter (1871-1950) to assist with a project for the Paris Exposition Universelle which allowed Nordfeldt to travel to Paris in 1900 for the installation. While in Paris he attended the Academie Julian briefly before finding his own studio. From Paris he went to England for a year, followed by a year in Sweden living in a seaside cottage. During his time in England, he learned woodblock carving and printing from Frank Morley Fletcher (1866-1949) who worked in collaboration with John Dickson Batten (1860-1932), a printer who is credited with introducing Japanese style color woodblock printing in England.

Nordfeldt returned to Chicago in 1903 where he found a studio in a vacant storefront in a neighborhood near the site of the 1893 World's Fair which had evolved into a small artist's community known as the Jackson Park art colony. His earliest woodblock prints are dated 1903 and display influence from Henri Riviere (1864-1951) and August-Louis Lepere (1849-1918) as much as from their original source of inspiration by Japanese print artists such as Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) and Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). At the time, Nordfledt was well aware that he was one of the first Americans artists to produce color woodblock prints utilizing Japanese techniques. In an undated draft of a letter found in the artist's papers Nordfeldt asserts as much himself, adding, "Indeed, the only person that was then using that method in this country was Arthur Dow." (Donovan, p. 28). Over a four-year period, Nordfeldt produced approximately fifteen color woodblock prints, the majority of which are dated 1906, the same year as Frank Lloyd Wright's landmark exhibition of Hiroshige prints at the Art Institute of Chicago. This 1906 print was surely inspired by works Nordfeldt would have seen at the Institute during that time. In January of 1908 ten of his woodblock prints were on view at the AIC Print Room in an exhibition of his printed works which was accompanied by a catalogue listing the print titles and a detailed description on the printing process (Donovan, p. 56, note #8).

While his foray into color woodblock printing was relatively brief, as he is more well-known for his etchings and expressionist oil paintings, Nordfeldt did revisit block printing over a series of summers spent on Cape Cod in Massachusetts between 1914 and 1917, where he was part of the famed circle of Provincetown printmakers. Remarkably, it was Nordfeldt's apparent fatigue with the intense labor required by Japanese woodblock printmaking that prompted his innovation of a simplified 'white-line' color woodblock print technique embraced by his fellow Provincetown printmakers.

References:
Etchings and Dry Points and Color Prints from Wood Blocks by B. J. Olsson-Nordfeldt, Art Institute of Chicago, January 1908 (exhibition catalog)
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America, 1990, pp. 200-212, no. 171
Fiona Donovan, The Woodblock Prints of B.J.O. Nordfeldt: A Catalogue Raisonne, 1991, cat. 9, fig. 27
Gabriel P. Weisberg, B. J. O. Nordfeldt: American Internationalist, 2021, p 71, no. 4
Minneapolis Institute of Art, accession no. 2017.74

(inv. no. 10-4953)

$2,200

Edna Boies Hopkins

1872-1937

Petunias

color woodblock print, with artist's peapod seal, ca. 1907-08

10 1/8 by 7 1/8 in., 25.8 by 18 cm

Edna ('Eddie') Bel Beachboard grew up in Hudson, Michigan, where she was married in March of 1992 at the age of 19 to a local banker, John Henry Boies, nine years her senior. When John was offered a banking job in Chicago, Illinois the couple moved to the Windy City where John contracted tuberculosis. In an effort to seek a mild and dry climate to help his recuperation they decamped to Denver, Colorado, but it was to no avail, he died in December 1894. The young widow enrolled in the Art Academy of Cincinnati in Ohio the following year where she met her future husband, the painter James Roy Hopkins (1877-1969), while studying illustration, life drawing, wood carving and sculpture. In 1899 she moved to New York and enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, becoming a student of Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922). Dow was one of the most influential proponents of Japanese woodblock printmaking in the United States, in part through his widely utilized book, Composition, which was published the same year, and he would build on his understanding of Japanese printing techniques when he journeyed to Japan in 1903.

In 1904 she married James Hopkins, and for a wedding present her parents sent the couple on a one-year honeymoon around the world which included a sojourn in Japan. They only made it partially back to the West when settled in Paris in 1905 and stayed until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Returning to the city in which they met, James took a post at the Cincinnati Art Academy. They were back in Paris from 1920 to 1923 before finally returning to Ohio, this time in Columbus where James was first an 'artist-in-residence' at Ohio State University, and later became the head of the Department of Fine Arts.

Edna, on the other hand, built a life for herself as a very independent artist, spending her winters in an apartment she rented in New York City and her summers Cape Cod, Massachusetts where she was a part of the circle of Provincetown printmakers pioneering white-line printing along with B. J. O. Nordfeldt (1878-1955) and where she also taught classes. She made her first woodblock print around 1900, and it became her primary medium, specializing in closely cropped floral compositions reminiscent of kacho-ga (bird and flower prints) by artists such as Hiroshige (1897-1958) and Hokusai (1760-1849). She exhibited her first woodblock prints while in Paris in 1906, and later she was a charter member of the Société de la Gravure sur Bois Originale Francais (Society of French Painter-Engravers) established in 1911. When the Hopkins left Paris the first time, the Cincinnati Art Museum held an exhibition of Edna's woodblock prints in the fall of 1914. In 1921, an article presenting an overview of woodblock printing in America published in Scribners recognized Hopkins (along with fellow print artists Margaret Patterson and Elizabeth Colwell) skillful handling of the blocks that "almost suggest actual work in oil or body color rather than printing" and points out, "The fact that most of the women artists in this field work in color may be noted."

An impression similar to this version of the composition with the circular peapod seal was located bound inside the August 1908 issue of The Bibliophile magazine accompanied by the description: "The Petunia print has been produced from the original blocks by careful working on a small press, but it has been found impossible to give thus the relief and variety of the hand print, of which a very limited impression has been taken off on Imperial Japanese Vellum. Subscribers desirous of receiving a copy may do so by obtaining a yearly subscription to The Bibliophile and forwarding 9 Pounds to The Bibliophile Office, or the Print will be sent post free for 3/6. This is a unique opportunity of securing a specimen of Mrs. Hopkins exquisite art."

References:
Frank Weitenkampf, Wood-Block Printing To-Day, Scribners, July 1921, pp. 635-640
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America, 1990, pp.180-189
Dominique H. Vasseur, Edna Boies Hopkins: Strong in Character, Colorful in Expression, 2007, p. 75, no. 51
Karin Breuer, Japanesque: The Japanese Print in the Era of Impressionism, 2010, p. 112, fig. 96
(inv. no. C-3357)

$1,100

Ethel Kirkpatrick

1869-1966

Brixham Trawlers

color woodblock print, pencil signed at lower right, Ethel Kirkpatrick, and titled along the bottom edge and on verso, Brixham Trawlers, ca. 1905-1915

10 1/4 by 15 3/8 in., 26 by 39.2 cm

Ethel Alice Kirkpatrick was born at the Cold Bath Field Prison in Clerkenwell, London where her father was the prison Governor. Her mother, Mary Ann Rosa, was from Yorkshire, and her father, Thomas Sutton, was from a landed family from Coolmine in Dublin, Ireland. Although her father was Irish, Ethel was not (a common misconception), and she spent most of her productive years in London or South England. From 1878 the family moved to Exeter, Devon, where Thomas was assigned as the Governor of the Exeter Prison; he later moved to back to London to run the Newgate Prison and then Wormwood Scrubs Prison. He retired in 1892 and by 1894 had a house built at Harrow-on-the-Hill near London which they called The Gables (as inscribed on verso of a Kirkpatrick print depicting a scene of Venice), which still stands. Ethel's interest in pursuing art was sparked by the influence of her older sister Ida Marion Kirkpatrick (1866-1950) who also became an artist. When their father died unexpectedly in 1895, the sisters had a large studio built at the back of The Gabels.

Ethel studied art at the West London School of Art, Royal College of Art in Kensington, and for a short time at Académie Julian in Paris along with her sister. She also attended London's Central School of Arts and Crafts between 1887 and 1899, where she studied enameling and course in color woodblock printing which was taught in 1898 by Frank Morley Fletcher (1866-1949), one of the earliest and most influential British artists to utilize and teach Japanese-style color woodblock printing in the West. In addition to studying in Paris, the Kirkpatrick sisters travelled widely in Europe with sojourns in Venice, Italy and Lausanne, Switzerland. Within England they were regular visitors at St Ives, Cornwall in the 1890's and at an arts colony in Walberswick, Suffolk between 1896-1921 with particularly extended stays 1907-1913. Ethel produced enamel jewelry, watercolor and oil paintings and color woodblock prints, however, although she was accomplished in multiple media, she was not prolific, and her work is scarce. Kirkpatrick almost never dated her prints, and scholarship is woefully lacking on her life and work. Most of her prints depict maritime subjects and have been presumed to date to the 1920s, however, she must have been producing woodblock prints by circa 1900 after studying the technique with Fletcher and there are two extant prints dated 1903 (one of Venice, and the other of two figures under trees). In addition, Kirkpatrick exhibited a case of enamel jewelry along with two color woodblock prints, 'The Stepping Stones' and 'Seagulls' at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. As such, it is likely many of her woodblock prints were carved and initially printed earlier than previously believed.

Ethel exhibited works at the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibitions twelve times between 1895 and 1941, in all exhibiting some sixteen paintings. She often exhibited (paintings, prints, and/or enamels) with her sister Ida at various commercial galleries in London, for example at the Graves Gallery in 1899 & 1900; the Society of Women Artists in 1900 & 1904 (enamel hatpins and brooches); Women's International Art Club at Grafton Galleries in 1902 & 1905 (enamels); Beaux Arts Gallery, Walker's Gallery, also at the Alpine Club Gallery in 1904 & 1905 (paintings and enamels). Ethel was a member and exhibitor with the Colour Woodcut Society; the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society; the Society of Artist Printers in Edinburgh and Glasgow; and the Society of Graver-Printers in Colour, frequently exhibiting with their annual exhibitions in London. Kirkpatrick's work was included in the society's group show held at the Brown Robertston Gallery in New York in 1921. This print was on view in the London annual exhibition in February of 1923.

As Kirkpatrick was regarded as highly influential among other color woodblock print artists in the 1910-1920s, it is particularly interesting that this print was formerly in the collection of Jun'ichiro Sekino, an important artist in the sosaku-hanga ('creative print') movement in Japan, whose ethos was centered on the Western concept of 'artist as creator' and therefore, the importance of artists self-carving and self-printing their own work.

Provenance:
The Estate of Jun'ichiro Sekino (woodblock print artist, 1914-1988)

References:
Geoffrey Holme, ed., Modern Woodcuts and Lithographs by British and French Artists, 1919, p. 33
Charles Marriott, Current Art, Westminster Gazette, February 12, 1923 (on Society for Graver-Printers in Colour exhibition)
Chazen Museum of Art, Color Woodcut International, 2006, p. 37
Barbara J. Thompson, The International Block Print Renaissance, Then and Now: Block Prints in Wichita, Kansas, A Centennial Celebration, 2022, pp. 37-51; p. 230; pp. 346-347
Victoria & Albert Museum, accession no. CIRC.1049-1924 ('Brixham Trawlers' process set)
(inv. no. 10-3737)

SOLD

Ethel Kirkpatrick

1869-1966

The Outgoing Fleet

color woodblock print, pencil signed at lower right, Ethel Kirkpatrick, and titled along the bottom edge, The Outgoing Fleet, ca. 1913

9 3/4 by 15 1/2 in., 24.8 by 39.5 cm

Ethel Kirkpatrick produced enamel jewelry, oil paintings, watercolors, and color woodblock prints, and she favored natural subjects, particularly maritime scenes. Although she was multi-talented and very influential among early British color woodblock print artists, she was not prolific and must have kept her print editions very small. Kirkpatrick almost never dated her prints, and scholarship is woefully lacking on her life and work. Her prints are frequently assigned a 1920s circa date, likely because there are records of her including prints in various group exhibitions held in the 1920s. However, there are extant two woodblock prints extant dated 1903 (a Venice scene and another illustrating two figures under a tree), and she included two different woodblock prints, titled 'The Stepping Stones' and 'Seagulls' in the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. As an early student of Frank Morley Fletcher (1868-1949) from the short period of time that he taught at the London's Central School of Arts and Crafts in 1898, it seems likely that many of her undated smaller works were carved and initially printed from circa 1900, and perhaps moving up to larger size sheets in circa 1905-1915.

This print was included in the annual exhibition organized by the Society of Graver-Printers in Colour at the Goupil Gallery in London in 1913. It was also illustrated that same year, along with two other Kirkpatrick prints, 'With Wind and Tide' and 'The Windswept Hill,' in a long article by Malcolm Salaman in the prestigious International Studio magazine on the process and leaders in color woodblock printing.

In the early 1920s Brown Robertson Gallery in New York held two exhibitions of modern woodblock prints, the International Modern Woodblock Print Exhibition, and the International Exhibition of Modern Wood Block Prints, in 1921 and 1922, respectively. Kirkpatrick was included in the first show, while Charles W. Bartlett (1860-1940), Elizabeth Keith (1886-1956) and Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950) were included in the later. The following year, in 1923, the gallery organized the solo show, Exhibition of Water Colors & Wood Blocks of Scenes of the Orient by Charles W. Bartlett. Unlike Kirkpatrick who carved and printed her own works, Bartlett, Keith and Yoshida had their works published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962). Of the three, perhaps Yoshida could have found common ground with Kirkpatrick, although not included in the same exhibition it seems likely they were at least aware of each other, as both artists shared and affinity with maritime subjects and he did eventually try his hand at carving and printing himself.

Provenance:
The Estate of Jun'ichiro Sekino (woodblock print artist, 1914-1988)

References:
Malcolm C. Salaman, Wood-Engraving for Colour, The International Studio, vol. 49, pp. 283-299; 'The Outgoing Fleet' illus. p. 296
Geoffrey Holme, ed., Modern Woodcuts and Lithographs by British and French Artists, 1919, p. 33
Westminster Gazette, Modern British Colour-Prints, April 21, 1913 (on Society for Graver-Prints in Colour exhibition)
Chazen Museum of Art, Color Woodcut International, 2006, p. 37
Barbara J. Thompson, The International Block Print Renaissance, Then and Now: Block Prints in Wichita, Kansas, A Centennial Celebration, 2022, pp. 37-51; p. 230; pp. 346-347
(inv. no. 10-3738)

SOLD

Charles Hovey Pepper

1864-1950

Dancer

color woodblock print; signed within the keyblock, Charles Hovey Pepper, with artist's seal, and hand-signed in elegant script, Charles H. Pepper, with publisher's seal Tsuta (ivy) seal of Kobayashi Bunshichi at lower right, ca. 1903

12 1/4 by 9 1/4 in., 31 by 23.5 cm

Charles Hovey Pepper was born in 1864 in Waterville, Maine, where his father, Dr. George Pepper, was a clergyman and later became the President of Colby College from 1882-1887. After graduating from The Coburn Classical Institute in 1884, Pepper attended Colby where he completed a bachelors of arts in 1889 and a masters of arts in 1891. He studied at the Art Students League in New York from 1890-1893, and then in Paris at the Académie Julian from 1893-1895, the same school that Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922) had attended four years earlier. Pepper stayed in Paris after leaving the academy where he continued to paint and enjoy recognition for his work; his paintings were selected for exhibition at the Paris Salon in 1894, 1895, 1897, and 1898.

While in Paris Pepper began collecting Japanese woodblock prints, which must have brought him in contact with Siegfried Bing (1838-1905), a prominent art dealer who played a significant role in promoting Japonisme and in the development of the art nouveau style. In 1897, Bing gave Pepper his first solo exhibition at his famous gallery, Maison de l'Art Nouveau.

Pepper returned to Massachusetts in 1899 and settled with his wife in Concord. In 1903 they embarked on a year-long tour of Asia and the Middle East. His first destination was Japan, where he stayed for several months to collect and study Japanese paintings and woodblock prints. This is the same year that Dow visited Japan, and Helen Hyde (1868-1919) set up her new residence in Tokyo. Shortly after his arrival, Pepper visited Hyde who advised him to take a house in Nikko for a period, where a local contact arranged three models for him. The result was a set of four figural color woodblock prints which were printed by the ukiyo-e dealer and publisher, Kobayashi Bunshichi (1861-1823). Pepper may have been aware of Kobayashi's gallery because the latter had a location in Boston at 360 Boylston Street (managed by a H.R. Yamamoto). When Dow arrived in Japan his first stop was Kobayashi's Yokohama shop, where he was shown the Pepper prints which were in production (Meech and Weisberg, pp.156-163)

In 1905, Pepper wrote a small reference book, Japanese Color Prints, which was published by Boston dealer Walter Kimball, and included detailed explanations on Japanese printmaking history and techniques. Many of Pepper's original paintings and examples of his prints were donated to the Colby Museum of Art; while most of his collection of Japanese woodblock prints (along with four of his own paintings and one print) were donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

References:
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America: The Impact on the Graphic Arts 1876-1925, pp. 156-163
Darrel C. Karl, The Woodblock Prints of Charles Hovey Pepper, Eastern Impressions, easternimp.blogspot.com, August 1, 2016
(inv. no. C-1460)

$700

Charles Hovey Pepper

1864-1950

Dutch Woman in Cloak

color woodblock print, signed at upper right corner, CHARLES HOVEY PEPPER, published by Kobayashi Bunshichi, ca. 1906

11 3/4 by 8 5/8 in., 30 by 22 cm

In 1903 Pepper and his wife embarked on a year-long tour of Asia and the Middle East. His first destination was Japan, where he stayed for several months to collect and study Japanese paintings and woodblock prints. This is the same year that Dow visited Japan, and Helen Hyde (1868-1919) set up her new residence in Tokyo. Shortly after his arrival, Pepper visited Hyde who advised him to take a house in Nikko for a period, where a local contact arranged three models for him. The result was a set of four figural color woodblock prints which were printed by the ukiyo-e dealer and publisher, Kobayashi Bunshichi. When Dow arrived in Japan his first stop was Kobayashi's Yokohama shop, where he was shown the Pepper prints which were in production (Meech and Weisberg, pp.156-163)

In 1905, Pepper wrote a small reference book, Japanese Color Prints, which was published by Boston dealer Walter Kimball, and included detailed explanations on Japanese printmaking history and techniques. Many of Pepper's original paintings and examples of his prints were donated to the Colby Museum of Art; while most of his collection of Japanese woodblock prints (along with four of his own paintings and one print) were donated to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Pepper later sent Kobayashi a Dutch watercolor and French watercolor to be turned into woodblock prints. The title of the French subject is called 'The Conspirators,' presumably after the watercolor of the same title shown in the 1906 Pacific Painting Society exhibition in Tokyo's Ueno Park, which in turn was based on a photograph Pepper had taken in Paris. This print is the exceedingly rare Dutch subject, the exact title of which is unknown.

References:
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America: The Impact on the Graphic Arts 1876-1925, pp. 156-163
Darrel C. Karl, The Woodblock Prints of Charles Hovey Pepper, Eastern Impressions, easternimp.blogspot.com, August 1, 2016
Colby Museum of Art, accession nos. 2016.136 & 2016.137
(inv. no. 10-5461)

$1,100

Helen Hyde

1868-1919

Winter

color woodblock print; copyright 1901 by Helen Hyde along inside edge of bottom border, with artist's HH monogram at lower right corner, numbered and signed in pencil below the outline, 31. Helen Hyde and titled near the bottom edge at right, Winter; with red collector's seal Tobin, published by the artist in an edition of 200, with the blocks carved and printed by artisans in the employ of the publisher Kobayashi Bunshichi, 1901

11 3/4 by 17 3/4 in., 29.7 by 45.1 cm

Helen Hyde grew up in San Francisco in a comfortable home with doting parents who were enthusiastic supporters of their daughter's artistic inclinations. In 1886, Hyde enrolled at the San Francisco School of Design, followed by a year (1888-89) at the Art Students League in New York City. In 1890 Hyde's wealthy Aunt Gussie sent her to Europe (the ultimate artist's pilgrimage): first to Berlin, and then on to Paris in 1891, where she stayed for three years. While in Paris, Hyde studied with Raphael Collin (1850-1916), Albert Sterner (1863-1946), and Félix Régamey (1844-1907), an illustrator who was immersed in the world of Japonisme. Régamey shared his love of Japanese esthetics with Hyde and stimulated her initial ambition of becoming an illustrator. In 1893, Hyde attended the first solo exhibition of the work of Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), where she may have found inspiration in Cassatt's Japanese-influenced color lithographs and her focus on mother-and-child themes. But it was another artist, Arthur Wesley Dow (1857-1922), who Hyde credits as the reason she became primarily a printmaker instead of an illustrator. Hyde would eventually meet Dow in the land of their mutual inspiration, Japan, in 1903.

Leaving Paris in 1894, Hyde returned to her studio in San Francisco and bought an etching press. Within a year, she had started to produce color etchings using a hand-applied technique called à la poupée. In 1899, Hyde traveled to Japan, bringing along her 'Little Miss' (the etching press). She first stayed in Tokyo, and later rented a house in Nikko, and began studying the Japanese language and took lessons in ink painting from Kano Tomonobu (1843-1912). While in Japan, Hyde continued to make colored etchings, but she also sought out the means to produce color woodblock prints. Her first attempt in 1900, arranged by Ernest Fenollosa (1853-1908) in care of the publisher Kobayashi Bunshichi (1863-1923), was a commercial success (the entire edition was bought by her San Francisco dealer) but a disappointment to Hyde. Apparently Fenollosa tried to convince Hyde to allow Kobayashi to produce a large quantity for the Japanese market as she was the first foreign artist the publisher had worked with. When she declined, Fenollosa misrepresented Hyde and instructed Kobayashi to destroy the blocks, without confirming with Hyde if this was in fact according to her wishes. Although it was Hyde's policy to cancel her own blocks or etching plates after editions of 100 or 250 anyway, presumably Fenollosa's offense was a matter of principle: Hyde preferred to be in control of her own work (Mason & Mason, Helen Hyde, pp. 15-18).

In order to learn how to produce color woodblock prints herself, Hyde sought out the advice of the artist Emil Orlik (1870-1932), an Austrian artist who had taught himself to carve and print while living in Munich, but had come to Japan in order to refine his skills. Orlik gave Hyde a set of tools and taught her block carving. Hyde also studied with a Japanese printer. Although Orlik helped Hyde grasp the fundamentals of woodblock printmaking, she quickly realized that it would be more efficient to hire Japanese craftsmen for the labor-intensive tasks of carving and printing. This is similar to the traditional Japanese hanmoto (publisher) system which involves the collaboration of artist, carver and printer; however, in this case, Hyde was both the artist and the publisher. This print is one of the earliest of twelve color woodblock prints produced by Hyde with the assistance of Kobayashi's artisans between April 1900 and October 1901 at the conclusion of her first period of residency in Japan.

Provenance:
James D. Tobin, Portland, Oregon

References:
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America: The Impact on the Graphic Arts 1876-1925, 1990, p. 118, no. 96
Tim Mason and Lynn Mason, American Printmakers: Helen Hyde, 1991, p. 37, cat. no. 44
Yokohama Museum of Art, Eyes Towards Asia: Ukiyo-e Artists from Abroad, 1996, p. 33, no. 16 Gabriel P. Weisberg, The Orient Expressed: Japanese Influence on Western Art, 1854-1918, 2011, p. 45, no. 60
(inv. no. 10-5315)

SOLD

Helen Hyde

1868-1919

Honorable Mr. Cat

color woodblock on tissue-thin paper; with artist's black HH monogram at lower right, numbered and signed in pencil below, 108. Helen Hyde, and titled along the bottom edge of the paper, HONORABLE MR. CAT, published by the artist, the blocks carved by Matsumoto and printed by Shohiro Murata, 1903

10 5/8 by 5 7/8 in., 27 by 15 cm

The original watercolor related to this woodblock print in the collection of the Chazen Museum of Art speaks to the remarkable dexterity of Hyde's professional carver, Matsumoto, and printer, Shohiro Murata, in their ability to capture the lively movement of Hyde's composition.

References:
Tim Mason and Lynn Mason, American Printmakers: Helen Hyde, 1991, p. 89, cat. no. 52
Chazen Museum of Art, Color Woodcut International, 2006, p. 80, no. 23 (print); no. 24 (watercolor)
(inv. no. 10-5519)

SOLD

Helen Hyde

1868-1919

Three Friends of Winter

color woodblock print on tissue-thin paper; copyright 1913 by Helen Hyde along inside edge of top border, with artist's HH monogram and green clover seal at upper right corner, numbered and signed within the composition above the title and text cartouche, 167. Helen Hyde; published by the artist, with the blocks carved by Matsumoto and printed by Shohiro Murata

10 1/2 by 7 3/8 in., 26.8 by 18.8 cm

The text panel at the bottom of the composition references the traditional grouping of Sho Chiku Bai (lit. pine, bamboo, plum):

-THREE-FRIENDS OF WINTER--
PINE-Long Life-Family Love- needl-es radiating-from--a common-centra--
PLUM--Grace and sweetness
BAMBOO-Purity-Integrity-straight-white within--
ALL-FOR-FRIENDSHIP-that-no-winter-storms-can-harm--

Matsumoto, the professional carver with whom Hyde worked, may have struggled with replicating Hyde's text in English which includes an erratic combination of dashes, dots, and commas, and a pencil correction inserting a missing 'l' from the word, needles.

Reference:
Tim Mason and Lynn Mason, American Printmakers: Helen Hyde, 1991, p. 63, cat. no. 112
Yokohama Museum of Art, Eyes Towards Asia: Ukiyo-e Artists from Abroad, 1996, p. 41, no. 33

(inv. no. 10-2346)

SOLD

Helen Hyde

1868-1919

Mt. Orizaba from Jalapa [Mexico]

color woodblock print on tissue-thin paper, copyright 1912 by Helen Hyde along inside edge of top border, with artist's HH monogram and clover seal at lower left corner, published by the artist in Japan, with blocks carved by Matsumoto and printed by Murata Shojiro, 1912

13 3/8 by 11 1/8 in., 34 by 28.1 cm

In 1899, Hyde traveled to Japan where she began studying the Japanese language and took lessons in ink painting from Kano Tomonobu (1843-1912). While in Japan, Hyde also sought out the means to produce color woodblock prints. Her first attempt in 1900, was arranged by Ernest Fenollosa (1853-1908) in care of the publisher Kobayashi Bunshichi (1863-1923). In order to learn how to produce color woodblock prints herself, Hyde sought out the advice of the artist Emil Orlik (1870-1932), an Austrian artist who had taught himself to carve and print while living in Munich, but had come to Japan in order to refine his skills. Orlik gave Hyde a set of tools and taught her block carving. Hyde also studied with a Japanese printer. Although Orlik helped Hyde grasp the fundamentals of woodblock printmaking, she quickly realized that it would be more efficient to hire Japanese craftsmen for the labor-intensive tasks of carving and printing. This is similar to the traditional Japanese hanmoto (publisher) system which involves the collaboration of artist, carver and printer; however, in this case, Hyde was both the artist and the publisher.

Hyde returned to the states in 1905-1906 on business, and again in 1910-1912, however this trip was prompted by health concerns, as she needed an operation for cancer. Most of 1911 was spent recuperating in Mexico, where she continued to produce drawings and watercolors which she then made into prints when she returned to Japan in 1912.

Given Hyde's association with Japan, this composition at first glance appears to be a depiction of Mt. Fuji. However, it is actually based on sketches Hyde made while visiting the health resort at Jalapa on the east coast of Mexico. The mountain depicted is the highest peak in Mexico, Pico de Orizaba, an inactive volcano with a well-formed snow-covered cone (much like Mt. Fuji). This is Hyde's only true landscape print, and although the subject is not from Japan, the composition is very reminiscent of 19th century Japanese landscape prints.

References:
Nancy E. Green, Arthur Wesley Dow and His Influence, 1990, illus. 46
Tim Mason and Lynn Mason, American Printmakers: Helen Hyde, 1991, p. 56, cat. no. 98
Claire de Heeckeren d'Anthes, Helen Hyde: An American Japoniste, 1992, illus. p. 18
Nancy E. Green and Jessie Poesch, Arthur Wesley Dow and American Arts & Crafts, 1999, p. 30
(inv. no. C-3044)

$1,900

Helen Hyde

1868-1919

A Mexican Coquette

color woodblock print on tissue-thin paper, copyright 1912 by Helen Hyde along inside edge of border at left, with artist's HH monogram at right, published by the artist in Japan, with blocks carved by Matsumoto and printed by Murata Shojiro, 1912

12 3/8 by 14 in., 31.4 by 35.5 cm

After her first trip to Japan from 1899 to 1901, Hyde was eager to return 'home' to Japan as soon as possible. For a period from 1902 until 1910, Hyde established her primary residence in Tokyo where she continued to supervise production of her woodblock prints. She returned to the states in 1905-1906 on business, and again in 1910-1912, however this trip was prompted by health concerns, as she needed an operation for cancer. Most of 1911 was spent recuperating in Mexico, where she continued to produce drawings and watercolors which she then made into prints when she returned to Japan in 1912.

Reference:
Tim Mason and Lynn Mason, American Printmakers: Helen Hyde, 1991, p. 55, no. 95

(inv. no. 10-5205)

SOLD

Helen Hyde

1868-1919

San Angel Inn

watercolor on paper; signed, titled and dated in ink in lower right corner, Helen Hyde. San angel Inn. 1912.

18 1/8 by 14 in., 45.9 by 35.7 cm

After a year in New York enrolled at the Art Students League (1888-89), Hyde continued her education in Europe, first to Berlin, and then on to Paris in 1891, where she stayed for three years. While in Paris, Hyde studied with Raphael Collin (1850-1916) alongside Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924), who would become famous after he returned to Japan where he was became a leading yoga (Western-style) painter and widely regarded as Japan's first Impressionist artist. Meech and Weisberg note that Hyde's watercolors are similar in style and theme to Kuroda's paintings, likely as a result of the shared influence of Collin's "brightly colored Impressionism" (p. 125).

This painting was produced following a period of convalescence in Mexico where Hyde spend most of 1911 recuperating from a cancer operation.

Reference:
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America: The Impact on the Graphic Arts 1876-1925, 1990, pp. 120-125 (on Hyde and Kuroda Seiki)
(inv. no. 10-5221)

SOLD

Helen Hyde

1868-1919

The Family Umbrella

color woodblock print on tissue-thin paper; copyright 1915 by Helen Hyde inside top edge of border, with artist's HH monogram at lower left followed by red clover seal, numbered in pencil below, 234., with pencil signature at right, Helen Hyde; published by the artist with the blocks carved by Matsumoto and printed by Shohiro Murata, 1915

10 3/4 by 7 3/8 in., 27.3 by 18.8 cm

Children were a favorite subject of Helen Hyde, an affinity she shared with the Australian-British artist and prominent Japanophile, Mortimer Menpes (1855-1958). In 1901 he published a profusely illustrated travel memoir, Japan: A Record in Colour, which included an entire chapter devoted to Japanese children. One of the numerous charming paintings on the theme was an image of a small girl holding a very large umbrella titled just so, "The Child and the Umbrella." Some fourteen years later Hyde may or may not have been inspired by Menpes work with this similar composition.

References:
Mortimer Menpes, Japan: A Record in Colour, 1901, illus. opposite p. 148 ('The Child and the Umbrella' painting)
Tim Mason and Lynn Mason, American Printmakers: Helen Hyde, 1991, p. 71, cat. no. 125
Yokohama Museum of Art, Eyes Towards Asia: Ukiyo-e Artists from Abroad, 1996, p. 47, no. 42 ('The Red Umbrella, Nikko' painting)
Helen Burnham, Looking East: Western Artists and the Allure of Japan, 2014, p. 53, no. 44
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, accession no. MWA32:H20 ('The Yellow Umbrella' painting)

(inv. no. 10-2340)

SOLD

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

The Home Coming

color woodblock print on tissue-thin paper, signed in pencil on the bottom margin, copyright 00 [sic] by Bertha Lum, no. 77, self-carved, self-printed, ca. 1905

9 1/2 by 3 3/4 in., 24 by 9.4 cm

Bertha Boynton Bull was born in Tipton, Iowa in May 1869. Her father was a lawyer but both her parents were amateur artists. In 1895, Bertha enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago in the design department, which she supplemented with classes at the Holme School of Illustration, followed by several years studying stained glass design with Anne Weston. In 1903, she married a prominent lawyer in Minneapolis, Burt Francis Lum. The newlyweds went to Japan on their honeymoon. Although Lum had little predisposition towards Japan and woodblock prints, she nevertheless searched for woodblock carving tools on behalf of a friend from the institute and was dismayed to discover the scarcity of woodblock print craftsmen. During her lasat week in Japan, Lum finally found a reproduction studio and shop and managed to glean enough information from her one-hour visit to pique her interest and get her started.

Upon her return to Minneapolis, Lum managed to produce at least nine woodblock print designs on her own, including this evocative work. She was likely aided in her efforts by recent publications on woodblock printing, such as T. Tokuno's Japanese Wood-Cutting and Wood-Cut Printing (Smithsonian, 1892), or even more certainly, Arthur Wesley Dow's 1899 arts manual, Composition: A Series of Exercises in Art Structure for the Use of Students and Teachers.

Although Lum's early prints were highly simplified riffs on ukiyo-e classics, the results are strikingly effective, and as in this case, lyrical. With this design, Lum combines visual references from varying sources. The title, The Home Coming, and the silhouetted descending geese suggest the poetic image of Returning Geese at Katada, a theme from the classic landscape grouping, Eight Views of Omi. While the cropped close perspective of the arched bridge in the background seems to have been lifted directly from a sketch inspired by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) in Artistic Japan, published by Seigfried Bing (1838-1905) in May 1888. Bing's illustration alludes to Hiroshige's print, Kyobashi Bridge, Bamboo Yards from the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo series, an image which was also referenced by James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) in his 1871-72 paintings, Blue and Silver: Screen with Old Battersea Bridge, and Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Old Battersea Bridge.

References:
S. Bing, Artistic Japan, No. 1 May 1888, p. 5 (bridge sketch)
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America: The Impact on the Graphic Arts 1876-1925, 1990, pp. 130-131, no. 91 (The Homecoming) and no. 92 (Artistic Japan I, No. 1, June 1888)
Mary Evans O'Keefe Gravalos & Carol Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, illus. p. 33, cat. 6 (color illus.)
(inv. no. 10-5111)

$1,600

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

Through the Night

color woodblock print on tissue-thin paper; with stylized BL monogram at far left, signed in pencil along the bottom, copyright-1913-by Bertha Lum, and numbered in the corner, no. 142; self-carved in 1907 or 1908; this impression printed ca. 1913

5 5/8 by 14 3/8 in., 14.4 by 36.5 cm

The blocks for this design were likely produced either during or shortly after Lum's second trip to Japan in 1907, a fourteen-week stay during which she fervently committed to refining her carving and printing skills. Armed with one letter of introduction to a prominent scholar, she was fortunate enough to be admitted to the block-carving studio of Igami Bonkotsu (1875-1933). The master carver was impressed by Lum's determination to self-carve and self-print her own works, a somewhat new concept that had recently begun germinating among Japanese artists and print-makers, and Bonkotsu (although very much a product of the traditional hanmoto system), would become a prominent figure in the developing sosaku-hanga ('creative print') movement.

Although it was primarily adolescent studio assistants who served as her teachers, Lum worked hard during her apprenticeship and carved her own blocks, which were then printed by the studio of Nishimura Kumakichi (1861?-1941) while she observed their techniques. As with her earlier independent efforts, prints from this period focused on soft variations of color and tone, and unlike classic ukiyo-e, often did not rely on a defining black outline block. This attempt at a watercolor-like effect may be in part the influence of Dow, who wrote at length on color and hue and whose own color woodblock prints rarely used outlines. It is interesting to note that Lum later embraced the outline block (in black and white), so much so that many of her designs are suggestive of stained glass, a genre which she studied before her entré into printmaking. She later developed a raised-line printing technique based on a Chinese method which placed even greater emphasis on the outline.

The soft-hued palette of this print is in keeping with her typical early style, but finer details such as the wheels of the rickshaws and the slatted gate and shoji panels in the background indicate her increased facility with carving. Lum's dedication to carving and printing her own works eventually waned. Like Helen Hyde (1868-1919), the practicality of allowing skilled craftsmen to handle the time-consuming work was too tempting. Upon her return to Tokyo in 1911, Lum sought out printers to work in her home under her supervision.

While Gravalos & Pulin date this design to 1908, extant impressions are variously dated (including 1910, 1912, 1913, and 1927), confirming the authors observation that Lum never embraced the convention of her fellow-printmakers that works should bear the date of their initial conception rather than when individual impressions were actually produced. Some versions, likely printed by Nishimura Kumakichi with Lum during the 1911-1912 trip to Japan, bear her Japanese go (artist name), Ramu ('Orchid Dream') within a cartouche at far left. An alternate title for the print was Jinrikshas (rickshaw in Japanese).

Reference:
Mary Evans O'Keefe Gravalos & Carol Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, illus. p. 60, cat. 20
Amy Reigle Stephens, gen. ed., The New Wave: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection, 1993, p. 207, no. 278
Yokohama Museum of Art, Eyes Towards Asia: Ukiyo-e Artists from Abroad, 1996, p. 56, no. 53 (titled 'Jinriksha')
(inv. no. 10-5216)

SOLD

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

Bamboo Road

woodblock print; with artist's seal, Ramu ('Orchid Dream') in upper left corner, signed in pencil at lower right, Bertha Lum, ca. 1912

8 3/4 by 10 1//8 in., 22.2 by 25.9 cm

The impression in the collection Minneapolis Institute of Art varies slightly from this example with a pale tan-grey background bearing the artist's seal stamped unclearly in red and signed diminutively along the narrow bottom margin in pencil, Copyright 1912 by Bertha Lum no 28. In comparison, this impression, with a blue-grey background, is signed more boldly above the outline with artist's seal stamped clearly in black which is more complimentary to the overall design.

The composition appears to be inspired by Utagawa Hiroshige's circa 1832-34 print, Tokiwa Gozen Wanders with her Three Children from his oban yoko-e series, The Life of Yoshitsune.

References:
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America, 1990, p. 147, no. 106 Mary Evans O'Keefe Gravalos & Carol Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, p. 35, cat. no. 24
Nihon no hanga II 1911-1920, Kizamareta 'kojin' no kyoen (Japanese Prints II, 1911-1920: A 'carved' private banquet), Chiba City Museum of Art, 1999, p. 121, no. 250
Gabriel P. Weisberg, The Orient Expressed: Japanese Influence on Western Art, 1854-1918 2011, p. 48, no. 63
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 21.8964 (Hiroshige, Lady Tokiwa Gozen print)
Minneapolis Institute of Art (Gift of Ethel Morrison Van Derlip, 1916, P86)
(inv. no. C-3042)

SOLD

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

Goblin Dance

color woodblock print on tissue-thin paper; signed in pencil above the lower border, copyright - 1912 by Bertha Lum, and numbered no. 77 in the lower right corner, published by the artist, 1912

9 1/8 by 14 3/4 in., 23.3 by 37.5 cm

The subject of this print may relate to the Oban festival, a three-day celebration honoring the spirits of one's ancestors which traditionally includes lanterns lit from dawn to dusk, sometimes released onto water or into the sky, and a dance, the Bon Odori, which varies by region but is typically performed at night.

The impression illustrated in O'Keefe and Pulin bears Lum's Japanese art name, Ramu ('Orchid Dream') along with that of Nishimura Kumakichi, the professional carver with whom she worked during her 1911-1912 six-month stay in Japan. Although the absence of those seals (and the tissue-thin paper) suggests that Lum may have produced this impression independently, it was around the time of that trip that she changed her perspective on the issue of artist as creator and began to rely on professional printers, insisting, however, on their working in her home so she could oversee production.

Reference:
Mary Evans O'Keefe Gravalos & Carol Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, illus. p. 66, cat. 28
(inv. no. 10-5399)

SOLD

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

On the River

color woodblock print on tissue-thin paper; pencil signed in the foreground, copyright 1913 by Bertha Lum, and numbered 106 at far right, blocks carved by Lum in 1912, this impression dated 1913

17 3/4 by 10 3/8 in., 45.1 by 26.5 cm

Lum frequently explored themes related to Japanese mythology and culture, in this case an evocative view of what could be an evening during Oban festival, a three-day celebration honoring the spirits of one's ancestors which traditionally includes lanterns lit from dawn to dusk, sometimes floating on the water or released into the sky.

With time, Lum's dedication to carving and printing her own works eventually waned. Like Helen Hyde (1868-1919), the practicality of allowing skilled craftsmen to handle the time-consuming work was too tempting. Upon her return to Tokyo in 1911, Lum sought out printers to work in her home under her supervision. The impression illustrated in O'Keefe and Pulin bears Lum's Japanese art name, Ramu ('Orchid Dream') along with that of Nishimura Kumakichi, the professional carver with whom she worked during her 1911-1912 six-month stay in Japan. The absence of those seals (and the tissue-thin paper) suggests that Lum may have produced this impression independently.

In the spring of 1912, she achieved fame by being the only foreigner, and the only color woodcut artist, to be included in the tenth exhibition of the Pacific Painting Society (Taiheiyogakai) at Ueno Park in Tokyo. With recognition in Japan, the attention of American galleries and periodicals soon followed.

References:
Meech & Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America, 1990, pp. 127-155
Gravalos & Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, p. 36, no. 31
Nihon no hanga II 1911-1920, Kizamareta 'kojin' no kyoen (Japanese Prints II, 1911-1920: A 'carved' private banquet), Chiba City Museum of Art, 1999, p. 121, no. 251
(inv. no. 10-4969)

SOLD

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

Road to the Forest at Nikko

color woodblock print; signed in pencil above the lower border, copyright - 1916 by Bertha Lum, and numbered no. 67 in the lower right corner, published by the artist, 1916

13 by 7 3/4 in., 32.9 by 19.7 cm

This design was likely produced by professional carvers and printers working for Lum during her fourth trip to Japan between 1915 and 1916. Illustrating a scenic view from Nikko, a popular retreat north of Tokyo, it was variously titled, 'Carmel Cottages,' likely to improve its sales in California at the Post Panama-Pacific International Exhibition (January-May, 1916) or the Schussler Galleries (December, 1916) in San Francisco.

Reference:
Mary Evans O'Keefe Gravalos & Carol Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, p. 41, cat. 45 (color illus.)
Helen Merritt, Point of Contact, 1993, p. 27, cat. no. 3

(inv. no. 10-5345)

$3,800

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

The Fox Woman

color woodblock print; signed in pencil along the bottom border, copyright 1916 by Bertha Lum, and numbered in the lower right corner, 67, 1916

17 by 10 5/8 in., 43.2 by 27 cm

In addition to mastering the color woodblock carving and printing process, Lum was a student of Japanese culture, exploring a particular fascination with myths and legends. That said, Lum was not overly concerned with adhering to the narrative aspect of an image, often leaving much to the imagination of the viewer, as is the case with the subject of this print, The Fox Woman. In Japanese mythology there was no single Fox Woman, but the state of being possessed by a fox was usually the misfortune of a woman. One particularly well-known fox-girl was called Kuzunoha (her name can be translated as 'kudzu leaf'). The wispy flames in the background and hovering over the woman and her silhouetted fox spirit are foxfires, a mysterious light or flame that it was said that foxes could produce from their breath or their tails.

This design was likely produced by professional carvers and printers working for Lum during her fourth trip to Japan between 1915 and 1916. In general, Lum favored a soft palette which enhanced the mystique of her prints, but saturated yellow-orange hue of the rising moon indicates the excellent preservation of color on this impression.

Reference:
Mary Evans O'Keefe Gravalos & Carol Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, p. 40, cat. 38 (color illus.)
Yokohama Museum of Art, Eyes Towards Asia: Ukiyo-e Artists from Abroad, 1996, p. 53, no. 48
Chazen Museum of Art, Color Woodcut International, 2006, p. 84, no. 27
(inv. no. 10-5513)

$4,200

Peter (Eleanor Bettina) Lum

1911-1983

A Gathering of Mice

color woodblock print; signed in pencil along the bottom border, Peter Lum Sept. 15, 1920, and numbered in lower left corner, no. 6, ca. 1920

8 7/8 by 4 3/4 in., 22.6 by 12 cm

Eleanor Bettina 'Peter' Lum, born on April 27, 1911 in Minneapolis, embarked on her first (of several) trips to Japan barely seven months later in November of the same year along with her mother Bertha and her sister, Catherine Maria Balliet (1909-1983). She acquired the nickname 'Peter Boy' because her sister, Catherine, two years her senior, was enamored with the children's book Peter Pan, and the name stayed with her throughout her life. The sisters spent much of their early childhood abroad in East Asia interspersed with periods of residency in California. Even as adults, both sisters lived abroad for extended periods. In 1936 Catherine married an Italian aristocrat, Antonio Riva, a businessman in Peking, where they continued to live during the war years. In 1938 Peter married a British aristocratic diplomat, Sir Colin Crowe, in Shanghai, China. Peter and her husband were posted to Washington D.C. then London, and back to Shanghai in 1950 where the families were caught up in the turmoil of the Communist Revolution. Catherine's husband Antonio had been arrested and Bertha (a widow since 1942), Catherine and her four children were under house arrest. Antonio was finally executed at the 'Bridge of Heaven' in Peking (now Beijing) on August 17, 1951. Catherine and her children retreated to Genoa, Italy, where Bertha joined them at the end of her life. Peter and her husband Colin eventually retired to England.

This charming print, illustrating what appears to be a social gathering of mice, was produced when Peter was only nine years old and the Lum family was residing in San Francisco. The fanciful subject hints at Peter's future career as a children's book author and illustrator specializing in Asian themes. Peter would write about supervising the printers who would work on her mother's prints when they were in Japan in her 1981 memoir, My Own Pair of Wings:

"...Our paintings were inevitably somewhat alien to them, and if you took your eyes off what they were doing they might suddenly print a bright red where it should have been a soft, rosey shade, or a solid blue sky instead of a pale and misty one" (pp. 150-151)

References:
Peter Lum, My Own Pair of Wings, 1981
Julia Meech & Gabriel P. Weisberg, Japonisme Comes to America: The Impact on the Graphic Arts 1876-1925, 1990, p. 145
Mary Evans O'Keefe Gravalos & Carol Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, pp. 17-18
(inv. no. 10-5514)

SOLD

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

Spirit of Fire

pencil and watercolor on paper, signed and dated in yellow-orange pigment along bottom edge, Bertha Lum 1921, mounted to wood stretcher with paper label on verso stretcher with typed titled, SPIRIT OF FIRE, werehouse [sic] no: 156; 1921

painting: 28 3/4 by 17 1/2 in., 73 by 44.5 cm
frame: 40 1/2 by 25 in., 103 by 63.5 cm

While Lum's earliest self-carved and self-printed works tended to focus on gradations of color and tone with minimal emphasis on the black outline, her use of the keyblock evolved after she acquired training from professional carvers during her second trip to Japan in 1907. During the 1910s, Lum increasingly imbued her soft-hued atmospheric studies in light and shadow with highly stylized looping and swirling lines suggesting a strong influence from the international Art Nouveau style in an interesting feedback loop of Japonsime.

This painting, produced in the year before her consequential trip to Peking, China (an inflection point in the development of her printmaking process with an even greater emphasis on the outline), is a quintessential example of Lum's fantastical work, in which she contrives mythical subject of her own imagination, a spirit of one of the essential elements, fire.

(inv. no. 10-5263)

$16,500

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

Peking Dust (study)

pencil and watercolor on thin tracing paper adhered to stiff Western-style art paper; signed in pencil on the bottom margin, copyright 1923 by Bertha Lum, and numbered unclearly in lower left corner, ?-8, and inscribed in pencil on verso, Peking Dust, ca. 1923

10 3/8 by 7 1/2 in., 26.3 by 19.2 cm

This hand-colored drawing is a study for the woodblock print, Peking Dust, which Lum published in 1924. It compares very closely to an extremely similar study (which must also be a tracing mounted in the same manner) in the collection of the de Young and Legion of Honor in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco which was given by Bertha Lum to the Hendricks family who donated it to the museum in 1981. Both were produced during Lum's residency in Peking from 1922 until 1924 where she studied Chinese woodblock printing techniques which would lead to her exploring more stylization in her compositions and a new 'raised-line' printing technique.

In addition to the color woodblock print of this design, there is a mirror-image hand-colored 'raised outline' version which was produced by embossing the paper from the front of the keyblock rather than the Japanese method which places the sheet face-down.

In 1934, a black and white version of Peking Dust was used as the frontispiece for Peiping and North China, a travel guide illustrated by Lum with text written by her daughter Peter (Eleanor Bettina) Lum.

References:
Peter Lum & Bertha Lum, illustrator, Peiping and North China: Information and Illustrations of the Important Places to See, distributed by Grands Hotel Des Wagons, Lits, 1934
Mary Evans O'Keefe Gravalos & Carol Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, illus. p. 85, cat. 82
Chazen Museum of Art, Color Woodcut International, 2006, p. 84, no. 28
Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, accession no. 1981-01-01
(inv. no. C-3043)

$3,000

Bertha Lum

1869-1954

White Snake Temple, Peking

color woodblock print; signed at lower right in pencil above the border, Bertha Lum, and below in the margin to the middle left, copyright -1924 by, and numbered in the right corner, no. 16, titled near the bottom edge in a different hand, T'an Cheh [sic] Sou, self-carved, self-printed, 1924

dai oban tate-e 15 1/4 by 11 3/8 in., 38.7 by 29 cm

In the spring of 1922, Lum travelled with her two daughters, Catherine and Eleanor (aka 'Peter') to Yokohama, only to discover upon her arrival (with 10 trunks and 28 suitcases) that there was no room at the Grand Hotel. Lum's response to the predicament was to leave that very day for China, intending to visit Peking in order to learn Chinese woodblock printing techniques. Although when they first arrived in China they were prevented from continuing to Peking as planned due to hot weather that was considered too much for foreign women and children (and likely some civil unrest as well), she eventually managed to move to Peking by September, settling in a house near the Forbidden City that was the former home of Prince Tzu, the son of the Emperor Tao Kuang.

As a result of her study of Chinese woodblock printing, Lum came to the conclusion that the Chinese emphasis on carving a flowing, undulating outline was superior to the finely carved Japanese keyblock. However, she still preferred the subtle coloration of Japanese prints. In response, Lum eventually developed a hybrid of both traditions in her own woodblock printing technique she called 'raised-line' which she achieved by embossing the paper from the front, and then applying watercolor by hand.

This print, variously titled White Snake Temple, Tan shi sou, and Temple, Peking, was produced on a large sheet of high-quality hosho paper using Japanese printing techniques. However, the carving of the outline block, with flowing and swirling lines, is an excellent example of Lum's increasingly stylized compositions following her time in Peking. Curiously, although Lum was moving away from Japanese printing traditions by developing her own process, the result (at least during a period of transition) seems to have moved Lum closer to the aesthetics and ethos of the Japanese shin-hanga ('new print') movement which emphasized a creative collaboration between Western-influenced artists and traditional Japanese printmakers.

Reference:
Mary Evans O'Keefe Gravalos & Carol Pulin, American Printmakers: Bertha Lum, 1991, illus. p. 60, cat. 83
(inv. no. 10-5144)

SOLD

Influencers: Japonisme and Modern Japan, Part 2 →