Kishio Koizumi

1893-1945

One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era: Night View of Ginza in the Spring (no. 12)
(Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue: Haru no ginza yakei)

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, Haru no ginza yakei, the series title on the right margin, Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue, dated and numbered, hanga kanseiban, dai rokunen sangatsu saku, juni kei (complete print series, 6th year [1931], 3rd month, no. 12), and signed in pencil, Koizumi Kishio, 1931

dai oban yoko-e 11 7/8 by 15 1/2 in., 30.2 by 39.4 cm

In 1928 Kishio Koizumi released the first print of this ambitious series of 100 designs. Entirely self-carved and self-printed, the series would take nine years to complete during a period of rapid expanding and rebuilding of Tokyo and tumultuous political and social change in Japan. Koizumi's views of Tokyo reflected an interest in the modernization of the city while at the same time a sense of nostalgic pride in traditional Japan.

Koizumi commented on this design in the annotated index: An evening during the era of dazzling illumination.

References:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Catalogue of Collections: Prints, 1993, p. 133, no. 1231
James T. Ulak et. al, Tokyo: The Imperial Capital, Woodblock Prints by Koizumi Kishio, 2003, p. 48, pl. 6
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. TD1993.69.1.96
(inv. no. 10-5613)

offered as a set

price: (reserved)