Night Scenes: 'Rainy Day at Kudan' 
This woodblock print depicts a rain scene just as night begins to fall. Travelers under rain umbrellas are making their way through a square lit only by lantern light. A porter navigates a rickshaw with his passenger well-covered in a white rain guard. This woodblock print, without an artist's seal is by Kobayashi Kiyochika, published by Hasegawa-Nishinomiya, c1910-20's. The Night Scenes series of twenty-one chuban prints illustrates evening views evocative of traditional Japan in a limited palette of sepia or black/blue originally issued in the 1910s, although Nishinomiya seems to have continued to produce the simple nocturnes in the same format into the 1920s.  This print has beautiful color, with wonderful bokashi shading in the twilight sky. It is dominated in black and charcoal with a blue hue. It is in excellent condition. The woodblock sight size with full margins measures 10" x 7". It is in a simple black frame measuring 14.5" Square. This print, one in a collaborative series included the work of Koho Shoda (1871-1946), Yoshimune Arai (1873-1945), Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915), Suzuki Gyosui (1898-?) and Kobayashi Eijiro (1870-1946). A 1920s catalogue issued by Hasegawa-Nishinomiya illustrates each of the twenty-one designs with titles.                P75415                  $425.00