Koson 小原古邨 : Two Playing Monkeys 桜吹雪に小猿 (Reserved)

Artist: Ohara Kōson (1877-1945)
Title: Two Playing Monkeys 桜吹雪に小猿  Date: Ca. 1920s-30s

Two monkeys (Inuus speciosus, Japanese macaque) playfully wrestle–falling cherry blossom petals and a nearby twig would hint that they are perhaps pictured in mid-fall from a cherry tree. The publisher of this work is unknown; in the Crows, Cranes & Camellias catalog, it is mentioned that this work was first published by Daikokuya, and that it was later published by Adachi. The image shown in that catalog (number 31) seems to be from the same blocks as this example, although the cherry petals are here more prominently printed in pink in the background. The background grey block also has woodgrain evident in this example. Both examples lack a publisher’s seal as well as an artist’s seal. However, it is certain that work was printed at the latest in the early 1930s, as it has the “Made in Japan” seal verso, which was only applied in the late 1920s and early 1930s for prints intended for export from Japan. The paper and the style of printing conform to many Koson prints that this dealer has seen that seem to have been printed about 1925-35 and that lack a publisher’s seal. We wonder if this printer had a relationship to Robert Muller, who was exporting many prints at the time, and might even think that Watanabe might be responsible for some of them, although this is not supported by scholarly research and is only a hunch. To our knowledge, Adachi did not work in shin hanga originals in the 1930s, but only on ukiyo-e reprints, so we would not identify Adachi as the publisher of this work. In any event, this seems to be a very scarce design. We’ve only found one example online that includes the artist’s seal.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. 
Dimensions: 36.8 x 19.3 cm
Literature: R. Schaap: “Crows,Cranes & Camellias”, Leiden 2001, catalog 31 and checklist K41.17.  Signature: Koson

SKU: KOS255