Tokushi Katsuhira 勝平得之: Snow Scene from Itchome Bridge, Akita

Artist: Tokushi Katsuhira 勝平得之 (1904-1971)
Title: Itchome Bridge, Akita
Date: ca. 1930s
Series:  Twelve Views of Akita

A hatted man and boy walk away from the viewer during an evening snowstorm. A yellow streetlamp glows reassuringly, and the shops in the distance also beckon with their warm light. Heavy flakes of snow are falling, and three pine trees rise atop an embankment at right.

Tokushi Katsuhira was a self-taught artist who came from a family of farmers and papermakers; he was a carver of dolls before taking a course in woodcarving in 1928. He exhibited with Nihon Sosaku-Hanga Kyokai in 1928 and 1929.  Most of his later works show local people engaged in the traditions and customs of his native Akita, so these purely landscape works are quite different from his later work. This series is rather scarce, and this is probably the finest scene in the series. One other example of this work has been found online, but it contains an English printed signature and a border around the seal at lower left. This example would seem to be from an earlier edition. These twelve scenes of Akita also may correspond with a specific month or season of the year; this is obviously a scene for a winter month. Today there is still an Itchome-bashi over the Asahi River in Akita, but it has been rebuilt in concrete and is surrounded by nondescript modern buildings. 

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: 22.1 x 30 cm
Publisher: Self-printed by the artist

SKU: TKC016S