Koichi Shimizu: The Open Sea at Sotobo (Sotobo O-umi)　外房大海

Artist: Koichi Shimizu
Title: The Ocean by Sotobo 外房大海  Date: April, 1939

Series: 100 Views of New Japan 新日本百景 (Shin Nihon Hyakkei)

Verdant springtime view of the scenic coastline at Sotobo. This is part of the Boso Peninsula, Chiba Prefecture, which is part of the greater Tokyo area. To the west of the peninsula is Tokyo Bay, and to the East is the Pacific Ocean. We are looking east, along what might today be part of the Minami Boso Quasi-National Park. As one might imagine, many areas along this coast are today quite developed due to the area’s beauty and proximity to Tokyo. Here we see farmland to the left and the corner of a farmhouse to the right; the rest of the design is given to nature. The carving and printing of this work is surprisingly minimalist, given that the artist served as a printer for other sosaku hanga artists.

There is little known about the artist Shimizu Koichi. He was born in 1895 in Tokyo, and studied at Kawabata Painting School with Nagase Yoshio. He exhibited with Nihon Sosaku-Hanga Kyoka beginning in 1927, and Nihon Hanga Kyokai between 1931-1935. He also served as a woodblock printer for other artists, including Oda Kazuma and other sosaku hanga artists.

This dealer has seen estimates on the edition size of this set that range from 50 to 150. The series title is stamped in the upper right margin, and the name of the print association, Nihon hanga kyokai sen is in the lower left. The artist’s name is written in pencil on the lower right margin, but it is not known if this was written by the artist himself.

Thirty-three artists contributed to this planned series of one hundred works, all members of the Nihon Hanga Kyôkai (Japan Woodblock Print Association). The first work was produced in December of 1938, and the series was halted after publishing  thirty-nine works, in 1941. There were two artist/editors of the set: numbers 1-9 were by Fujimori Shizuo and Maekawa Senpan took over for numbers 10-39. According to the Art Gallery of New South Wales website, publication of this series was stopped by the Japanese authorities during WWII because they feared that the interior of Japan would become known to its enemies. This would not be surprising given the paranoia of wartime, but it is also probable that there were other factors, including limited supplies and artists conscripted into the war machine.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Dimensions: 24.7 x 32.1 cm

References: The British Museum has all 39 works from the set, but not all of the prints have photographs on their website. The Carnegie Museum of Art has many works from the set as well.

SKU: SNH034