Shoda Koho

1871?-1946?

Night Scenes: Canal Under Moonlight

with two artist's seals, Ko and Ho, published by Hasegawa-Nishinomiya, ca. 1910-20's

chuban tate-e 11 1/4 by 8 1/8 in., 28.5 by 20.5 cm

The Hasegawa Publishing & Co. (also known as Hasegawa-Nishinomiya Publisher), was founded in 1885 by Takejiro Hasegawa (1853-1938) whose original family name was Nishinomiya. In the 1930s his son and successor, Yosaku Nishinomiya, reverted the company name back to the original family name of Nishinomiya. T. Hasegawa is perhaps best known for his production of woodblock printed illustrated fairy tale chirimen-bon (crepe-paper books) during the Meiji Period (1868-1912). Hasegawa-Nishinomiya also produced reproductions and small-format folio process books such as "Process of Wood-block Printing" (undated).

The Night Scenes series of twenty-one chuban prints illustrates evening views evocative of traditional Japan in a limited pallette of sepia or blue and appears to have been originally issued in the 1910s, although Nishinomiya seems to have continued to produce the simple nocturnes in the same format into the 1930s. There are later post-war editions which are identified by thicker paper and the addition of margins with publishing information. The collaborative series included the work of Koho Shoda (1871?-1946?), Yoshimune Arai (1873-1945), Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915), Suzuki Gyosui (1898-?) and Kobayashi Eijiro (1870-1946). However, the was little emphasis placed on the individual artists; sometimes the artist seals are lacking, or even replaced by the spurious signature Hiroshige, clearly in an effort to dupe a hasty buyer. A 1920s catalogue issued by Hasegawa-Nishinomiya illustrates each of the twenty-one designs with titles but without identifying the artist for each work.

(inv. no. 10-5582)

price: $300