Kishio Koizumi

1893-1945

One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era: Subway in Spring (no. 88)
(Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue: Haru no chikatetsu)

self-carved, self-printed; signed within the composition, Izumi in a diamond-shaped seal with stylized kanji, with artist's red archaic seal, Koizumi Kishio ga to, print title on the upper left margin in black, Haru no chikatetsu, the series title on the right margin, Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue, dated and numbered, hanga kanseiban, dai juninen sangatsu saku, hachijuhachi kei (complete print series, 12th year [1937], 3rd month, no. 88), and signed in pencil, Koizumi Kishio, 1937

dai oban tate-e 15 5/8 by 12 1/4 in., 39.8 by 31 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.

The first subway line in Tokyo opened in 1927 connecting the neighborhoods of Ueno and Asakusa. Over a twelve-year period, stops were added at Nihonbashi, Ginza, Tornomon, Omotesando and Shibuya. The original section is still part of the Ginza line today.

In Koizumi's annotated index he comments: The department store station, now equipped with a subway, is adorned with artificial flowers to attract customers.

References:
James T. Ulak et. al, Tokyo: The Imperial Capital, Woodblock Prints by Koizumi Kishio, 2003, p. 80, pl. 38
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)
Noemi Raquet and Chris Uhlenbeck, Urban Landscapes and Leisure, Nihon no hanga, 2009, p. 44, no. 28 (re: Tokyo Ginza subway line)
Chris Uhlenbeck, Maureen de Vries , and Elise Wessels, Feminine and Independent, Nihon no hanga, 2011, p. 60, no. 39
Samuel C. Morse, Reinventing Tokyo: Japan's Largest City in the Artistic Imagination, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, 2012, p. 118, no. 65
Chris Uhlenbeck, Amy Reigle Newland and Maureen de Vries, Waves of Renewal: Modern Japanese Prints, 1900-1960, Selection from the Nihon no hanga Collection, 2016, p. 235, no. 185
The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, Miami Beach, Florida, Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. Collection, no. TD1993.69.1.13
(inv. no. 10-5689)

offered as a set

price: (reserved)