Takahashi Hiroaki (Shôtei) 松亭 弘明: Night on the Bank of the Sumida River (SOLD)

Artist: Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei) 弘明 (1871-1945)
Title: Night on the Bank of the Sumida River  Date:  1907

This rather unprepossessing snow scene of an old-fashioned wooden boat moored in the Sumida River is momentous in the history of shin hanga. This was the very first print that Hiroaki produced for the redoubtable Watanabe Shôzaburô. It was so successful that it helped to establish the Watanabe Print Company, still during the Meiji Period. Watanabe had previously only published reprints of famous Edo Period prints, but in 1907 he decided to start a new genre that he called shinsaku hanga (non- reproduction) prints. Watanabe was only 22, but he had already opened an independent shop in Kyobashi that he called Shôbidô and had engaged Takahashi Shôtei for its first designs. In his essay on Watanabe in “Water and Shadow”, Hisao Shimizu wrote that these first prints were “characterized by refined realism enhanced by a restrained palette and delicate lines.” This and other early works were so successful that Hiroaki created almost 500 designs for Watanabe before the earthquake. This important pre-earthquake design is exceedingly scarce, especially in this condition.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. With very minor hinging remnants, verso. Dimensions: tanzaku-gata (13.5 x 36.7 cm).
Publisher: Watanabe Shôzaburô
References:  Folk Museum of Ota City insert. Discussed in “Water and Shadow” in Hisao Shimizu’s article “The Publisher Watanabe Shôzaburô and the Birth of Shin-Hanga” page 23. Figure 4.

SKU: HIC118K