1893-1945
One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era: Azalea at Hibiya Park (no. 5)
(Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue: Wakaba to hibiyakoen no tsutsuji)
self-carved, self-printed; signed within the composition, Izumi in kanji and KOIZUMI KISIO in block Roman letters, print title on the upper left margin in black, Wakaba to hibiyakoen no tsutsuji, followed by the series title, Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue, dated and numbered, hanga kanseiban, dai gonen gogatsu saku, go kei (complete print series, 5th year [1930], 5th month, no. 5), and signed in pencil, Koizumi Kishio, 1930
dai oban yoko-e 11 7/8 by 15 1/2 in., 30.1 by 39.3 cm
In 1928 Kishio Koizumi released the first print of this ambitious series of 100 designs. Entirely self-carved and self-printed, the series would take nine years to complete during a period of rapid expanding and rebuilding of Tokyo and tumultuous political and social change in Japan. Koizumi's views of Tokyo reflected an interest in the modernization of the city while at the same time a sense of nostalgic pride in traditional Japan.
Koizumi's comment in the annotated index was critical: The fresh green leaves and blossoming azaleas were strikingly beautiful. The addition of a few human figures was oddly effective.
References:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Catalogue of Collections: Prints, 1993, p. 132, no. 1228
James T. Ulak, Tokyo Modern-II, Koizumi Kishio's 1940 Annotations on "100 Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era," Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Visualizing Cultures (visualizingcultures.mit.edu), 2009 (Koizumi translation)
The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida, Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, no. TD1993.69.1.103
(inv. no. 10-5606)
offered as a set
price: (reserved)