Bartlett -- "Kobe" (#2)

(Click HERE for additional image)
(Click HERE for additional image)
(Click HERE for additional image)
Artist Charles W. Bartlett
(1860-1940)
Title "Kobe," also known as "Festival in the Rain."
(Bartlett's round "red seal" upper corner, red pencil signature lower margin.)
Date 1916 (PRE-earthquake, RARE)
Series "Japan Series" (Initially a 6-print portfolio, 1916; later totaling 9 prints, all 1916.)
Publisher Watanabe Shozaburo
Seal, Carver/Printer na
Image Size 9 1/8 x 14 1/4
Impression Very Fine. Superbly executed "bokashi" shading; light "gauffrage" to overhead poles and lower area details; life-like reflection.
Condition Nearly Excellent. Excellent colors. Clean front and backside. (Very faint "mat-folder-line" in margin; light toning--otherwise flawless.)
Reference/Illus "Charles Bartlett-A Printmaker in Paradise," pl# 30, pg 118.
Comments Dramatic, atmospheric nighttime streetscene in the seaport of Kobe. Exceptional condition for this surviving PRE-earthquake image--woodblocks destroyed by fire. Very rare. ("Completed editions were intended to number 100 impressions, with key-blocks to be scored and color-blocks to be planed down for reuse. Rarity was thus guaranteed." Miles/Saville)
Item # DG-264
Price $3600 (Sold/HK)