1893-1945
One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era: View of Nerima Ward (no. 73)
(Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue: Itabashi-ku nerima fukei)
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, Itabashi-ku nerima fukei, the series title on the right margin, Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue, dated and numbered, hanga kanseiban, dai junen juichigatsu saku, nanajusan kei (complete print series, 10th year [1935], 8th month, no. 73), and signed in pencil, Koizumi Kishio, 1935
dai oban yoko-e 11 7/8 by 15 3/8 in., 30.2 by 39.1 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 leaves a playful insight in the 1980 annotated index: Daikon of Nerima have been renowned from the time they were presented as gifts to the shogun. The priest Takuan introduced a recipe for pickling these radishes. So they became even more famous.
References:
The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Catalogue of Collections: Prints, 1993, p. 136, no. 1261
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. TD1993.69.1.29
(inv. no. 10-5674)
offered as a set
price: (reserved)