Kawatsura Yoshio (Negoro Raizan): Ochanomizu Bridge at Night (Sold)

Artist: Kawatsura Yoshio (Negoro Raizan) 1887-?
Title: The Temple, Asakusadera, Tokyo, 1922
Date: 1922

The Bridge, Ochanomizu (bashi), Tokyo. A round streetlight seems to stand in for the missing moon in this atmospheric penumbral view. We see several shadowlike figures crossing Ochanomizu Bridge, each in their own solitary space. In the distance are two western buildings that rise above the traditional low buildings--the domed one must be Nikolai Cathedral, a Russian Orthodox church that was built in 1891. Today this area is congested with highrises and train tracks. Very little is known about the artist Raizan.  His prints are very scarce, most likely because they were published before the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and most of them were therefore destroyed. We also can assume that his publisher did not have the marketing genius of Watanabe Shozaburo. The Robert Muller collection at the Freer Gallery of Art has 17 works by Raizan; otherwise, few examples are known. These works never include a white paper margin--the design goes all the way to the paper edge.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. 
Dimensions: 37 x 23.7 cm (oban)
Publisher: Yoshikawa Kobunkan
LIterature:  Illustrated in “The new wave”, page 165, number 99. See the Freer Gallery of Art online for the Muller example.

SKU: RZC011S