1893-1945
One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era: The Philosophy Shrine in Nakano (no. 55)
(Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue: Nakano-ku tetsugaku-do)
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, Nakano-ku tetsugaku-do, the series title on the right margin, Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue, dated and numbered, hanga kanseiban, dai kyunen kugatsu saku, gojugo kei (complete print series, 9th year [1934], 9th month, no. 55), and signed in pencil, Koizumi Kishio, 1934
dai oban yoko-e 11 7/8 by 15 3/8 in., 30.1 by 39 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.
In the 1940 annotated index Koizumi reflects: At this place the four great saints are honored and one feels the spirits researched by Professor Inoue.
References:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Catalogue of Collections: Prints, 1993, p. 135, no. 1252
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. TD1993.69.1.51
(inv. no. 10-5656)
offered as a set
price: (reserved)