TSUNETOMI -- "The Heroine Umekawa" (#4)

(Click HERE for additional image)
(Click HERE for additional image)
Artist TSUNETOMI, Kitano
(1880-1947)
Title "The Heroine Umekawa" (in the play "Meido no Hikayuki")
(aka "Woman in Snow")
Date ca1923
Series "The Complete Works of Chikamatsu"
("Dai Chikamatsu Zenshu"),
a 12-print series.
Publisher unk
Seal, Carver/Printer Yamagishi Kazue/Nishimura Kumakichi
(both artisans produced the entire 12-print series)
Image Size 10 3/4 x 15 1/4
(plus wide margins)
Impression Very Fine.
Nicely executed "bokashi"
(gradation of colors) shading; snowflakes depicted in "gofun" (white overprinting); white "mica" background and silver "mica" highlights to hairpin and purple garment; detailed carving.
Condition Excellent. (Light toning.)
Reference/Illus Illustrated in "The Female Image," p.86, pl.106; "The New Wave" pl. 138.
Comments A large head portrait of a young beauty, surrounded by large flakes of snow of hand-applied "gofun."
Only having designed a few prints, works by Tsuentomi are quite rare--and this is the most sought-after print of the series. Part of a 12-print series of prints (each done by a different artist) published c1922/23; all were carved by Yamagishi Kazue and printed by Nishimura Kumakichi. For a further discussion of this series, see "The New Wave - Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection" (page 168).
Item # BG-154
Price $1050 (Sold/D&A)