Kawanishi Hide 川西英: Kobe Harbor 神戸港 (Port of Kobe) (SOLD)

Artist: Ishizaki Shigetoshi 石崎重利 (1901-1999)
Title: Kobe Harbor 神戸港 (Port of Kobe)   Date: February 1939

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

We are on the water in the bustling Port of Kobe in 1939. We are dwarfed by two large steamships that have been cropped at left, and a large red mooring buoy is in the foreground. We see a water taxi at right. In port are large steamships with black cranes reaching high above at various angles. The shore is depicted as much less exciting, with a few buildings shown at left and the city homes creeping up into the hills. There are symbols of the city carved into the vegetation on the distant hills. Most of the prints in this series show a much less industrialized view of Japan, but this is the artist’s hometown, so it is a natural fit for him. We can guess that images of this port became restricted shortly after this series was halted in 1941, as Kobe was Japan’s largest port and a shipbuilding and marine-engine manufacturing hub in Japan’s wartime machine. Kobe was heavily firebombed in 1945 and much of the city was destroyed by Allied Forces. “Grave of the Fireflies” was a short story and anime film of the same name that were set during the bombing of Kobe.

As noted by Smith (1994), Kawanishi’s extroverted personality is reflected in the cheerfulness of his contributions to this series. He notes that he has been influenced by the international Art Deco poster style in his depictions of his home city of Kobe. This is number 27 in the series. Scarce, as are all the works from this series.

This dealer has seen estimates on the edition size of this set that range from 50 to 150. In any event, this is a design that does not surface very often. 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.

Kawanishi Hide was a self-taught artist from Kobe, where he made a living as a postmaster. He exhibited his first prints in 1923 with the Japan Creative Print Association, and is known for his use of bold, primary colors as well as for his focus on scenes of Kobe.

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: 25.2 x 32.8 cm

SKU: SNH018