Maple Tree and Beauty, 1925

Signature & Seal: Hoshu
Hanging Scroll & Box
Roller Ends: Bone
Technique: Handpainted on Silk
Size: 60.8cm x 198cm / 23.9″ x 77.9″

 

White Heron in Rain

Gakusui Ide (1899 – 1950)
Year: 1950
Publisher: Watanabe Shôzaburô
Size: Oban 25,4 x 38cm

 

Shoka no Take – Bamboo in Early Summer

Kasamatsu Shiro, 1898 – 1992
Size: Oban 25,4 x 38cm

Bamboo Garden , Hakone Museum

吉田　遠志 Yoshida Toshi, 1911-1995
Heisei edition ATOZURI print from Original woodblock.
Printer:  Yoshida Stadio
Size: Oban 25,4 x 38cm

 

Teahouse at Daitokuji Temple, Kyoto – Winter

Tokuriki Tomikichiro, 1902 – 1999
Year: 1977
Size: Dai Oban 34.5 x 45.5cm

 

Actor as a Crazed Woman

Artist: Gekko Ohashi (1895 – ?)
Series: Nigao-e (Portraits)
Size: 7 7/8″ x 5 1/2″
Nigao-e Shin Hanga Kabuki Portraits – Handsome design from a series of chuban woodblocks called “Nigao-e” (Portraits), featuring contemporary portraits of kabuki actors. The Color-Print Revival Society of Kanda, Tokyo, published the series during the Taisho era for its members, but not much else is known about the series. These wonderful prints showcase the talents of a variety of shin hanga designers, including Natori Shunsen and Seifu Matsuda, and were intended to revive interest in both kabuki theater and traditional Japanese woodblock printing. These early shin hanga images are beautifully drawn with immediacy and freshness, capturing a real sense of expression and character. Some feature deluxe techniques such as fine bokashi shading or mica. A wonderful choice for a shin hanga collector or kabuki enthusiast.

 

Two Carp and White Lotus, 1931

Ohara Shoson, 1877-1945
Publisher: Watanabe – 渡辺
Size: Shikishiban (square) format, 27.2 x 24.1 cm

 

Leaves

Tani Akira 1920-?
Image Size: 14 3/4″ x 20 ½
Handsome design from a series of nature prints by the 20th century artist Tani Akira. Utilizing beautiful calligraphic line work, he creates striking silhouettes of plants and trees, or colorful allover designs of blossoms and grasses. Not much is know about the artist.

 

Paul Binnie, Scottish, b. 1967
Large-head Kabuki Portraits:

Ichikawa Ennosuke as Nikki Danjo

(Kabuki okubi-e: Ennosuke – Nikki Danjo)
with mica on the dark purple background; signed at lower left, Binnie, with artist’s seal Bin-ni, numbered at upper right, 23/100, the print title below, Ichikawa Ennosuke, Nikki Danjo, with date seal Heisei hachi-nen (Heisei 8 [1996]), signed in pencil on the bottom margin, Paul Binnie, ca. April – May 1996
oban tate-e 16 1/8 by 11 1/2 in. / 41.1 by 29.2 cm

The actor wears the classic costume of the villian Nikki Danjo, a wicked magician who transforms himself from a rat (thus, the grey clothing) into a human in the play Sendai hagi (‘Sendai bush clover’). The bright red mark on his forehead is a wound he received from a fan that was thrown at him while he was in the form of a rat.
Reference: Paul Binnie: A Dialogue with the Past – The First 100 Japanese Prints, 2007, p. 79, no. 37

Spring (Haru), 2005

Series: The Four Seasons (Shiki)
Paul Binnie, 1967 –
Limited edition number: 91/100
Size: 11 3/8″ x 17 3/8″