Takehisa Yumeji

1884-1934

Ten Subjects of Women: Shamisen Canal
(Onna judai: Samisen-bori)

color woodblock print embellished with silver mica on her hair ribbon, signed Yumeji with artist's red seal Takehisa Yumeji no in, with publisher's seal on the left margin, Hanmoto Kato Junji (Publisher Kato Junji), and with limited edition seal below, Hyaku gojumai zeppan dai hyaku-go ban (limited edition 150, number 105), 1938

dai oban tate-e 17 1/8 by 16 1/8 in., 43.4 by 41 cm

After Yumeji's sudden passing in 1934 from tuberculosis at the age of only fifty, the publisher Kato Junji produced a number of the artist's woodblock prints posthumously, some based on pastels and watercolors, others were reprintings of original blocks. This print from a series of ten is based on a set of watercolors of the same name by Yumeji from circa 1920-21 which closely follows the composition and coloration of the original paintings, even almost matching the paper dimensions.

References:
Kato Junzo (Kato Junji), comp., Kindai Nihon hanga taikei, 1975-76, Vol. 3, pl. 144 ('Woman at Samisen-bori')
British Museum, accession nos. 1981,0730,0.7; 1981,0730,0.8 ('Girl in a Head Wrap' & 'To the Morning Light' two prints from the same series)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 66.421 ('Red Under-Robe' from the same series)
Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Sackler Gallery, Robert O. Muller Collection, accession no. S20038.3677 ('Shamisen-bori')
(inv. no. C-3249)

price: $5,800