Takahashi Hiroaki (Shôtei) 高橋松亭 弘明: Rain on Izumi Bridge

Artist: Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei) 弘明 (1871-1945)
Title: Rain on Izumi Bridge 和泉橋の雨  Date:  ca. 1924-1927

A woman in traditional garb and her male attendant cross Izumi Bridge during a fierce evening rainstorm. The only glow of light comes from his paper lantern. We feel the echoes of Hiroshige’s famous Ohashi Bridge work from a century earlier. This is considered one of Hiroaki’s most effective and sought-after designs in this format. Hiroaki’s work very deliberately references an earlier Japan, which helped encourage sales of these archetypal scenes to the eager customers abroad. Andreas Marks chose this design as one of his personal choices in his recent book on 200 Masterpieces of Japanese prints, and it is shown in a double-page spread on pages 600-601. There is a 1909 version of this work that differs quite substantially from this one, that design shows three pedestrians and was made with fewer colors.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. 
Dimensions: 17.1 x 38.2 cm.
Publisher: Watanabe Shôzaburô
Literature: Amy Reigle Stephens, gen. ed., The New Wave: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection, 1993, page 111, plate 86; Shimizu, Hisao, Syotei (Hiroaki) Takahashi: His Life and Works, 2005,p. 42 number 84. Marks, "Japanese Woodblock Prints in 200 Masterpieces" (2019), #197, page 598. Chris Uhlenbeck, Shin hanga: The New Prints of Japan 1900-1960, Ludion, 2022, p. 175, no. 158. See MFA and AIC museum websites.

SKU: HIA043