Hiroshima Shintaro: Sunset (Model T and Landscape) (SOLD)

Artist: Hiroshima Shintaro (1889-1951)
Title:  Sunset   Date: 1916    Dimensions: 37.5 x 28.8

Is that a 1916 Ford Model T with the top down tearing through the landscape, or a hallucination? It would seem to be a Model T! A man in the back seat urges his driver to go faster across the bright and surrealist landscape, which seems to rush by, a dog chasing behind in a humorous touch. A listing conifer to the right and a yucca-like plant at bottom right anchor the semi-abstracted landscape. The sky is a unique blend of yellow, orange and red, with grey-outlined clouds hovering above.  This is a scarce and early sosaku-hanga work of the Taishô era with a fascinating European flair. At this time in Japan, only Ford and GM cars would have been seen on Japan’s roads, and owning them was a luxury. Hiroshima Shintaro was born in Tokushima City in 1889. He studied at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and majored in nihonga, Japanese style painting. While a student he also studied western-style art at the Hakuba-kai Institute.　He began creating prints in 1914, and established The Japan Hanga Club with Hasegawa Kiyoshi and Nagase Yoshiro. In later years he returned to Nihonga, Japanese style painting, under the artist name Kôhô. His printed works are quite scarce.

Signed:  With a pencil signature (?) at lower right: “S. Hiroshima”

Sealed: Red artist's seal of Koho

References: See Merritt and Yamada "Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975", page 36, for artist information. This design was exhibited at the Tokushima Prefectural Museum of Modern Art in 2017 as part of their retrospective on the artist.

SKU: HIS003