Detail: Scholten Japanese Art is pleased to mark our 10th year in New York with a special presentation, 2010: 20th century Japanese prints & paintings, 10th anniversary exhibition. This exhibition is a reflection of the gallery's continuing interest in the intertwining development of Japanese woodblock prints from the early to mid-20th century by artists who designed shin-hanga (lit. 'new prints') and sosaku-hanga (lit. 'creative prints'). The show will include twenty to thirty woodblock prints and a few original paintings. There will be examples of important or iconic works by key artists of the period, including popular masters such as Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921), Kaburagi Kiyokata (1878-1972), Ito Shinsui (1898-1972), Kobayakawa Kiyoshi (1896-1948), Kitano Tsunetomi (1880-1947), Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei, 1871-1945), Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), and Torii Kotondo (1900-1976).
Scholten will also exhibit a select few examples of color woodblock prints by Western artists who played a role in the development of these genres, including Arthur Wesley Dow (American, 1857-1922), Emil Orlik (Austrian, 1870-1932), Bertha Lum (American, 1869-1954), and Fritz Capelari (Austrian, 1884-1950).
10th anniversary showThe exhibition will include an impression of Goyo's famous print, Woman Combing Her Hair (Kami sukeru onna) from 1920. The bust portrait depicts a young woman wearing a summer kimono tied simply with a red sash. She tilts her head slightly downward and holds her hair away from her face while she pulls a comb through her exceedingly long tresses. Goyo was an exacting printmaker: the works produced under his care (and even those produced shortly after his untimely passing at the age of 40 in 1921 due to complications from meningitis), are of a consistently high quality. This impression is particularly remarkable for the very fine printing of her hair.
There will also be the complete set (with original folder) of four prints from Kitano Tsunetomi's 1918 series, Four Seasons of the Licensed Quarter (Kuruwa no shunju). Illustrated above is no. 4, Before the Mirror, Shinchi in Winter (dai-yon Fuyu [Shinchi]: Kagami no mae), with mica background (15 3/8 by 10 1/4 in., 39 by 26.1 cm).
The exhibition opens Thursday, September 2nd and continues through Saturday, September 18th. Scholten Japanese Art, located at 145 West 58th Street, Suite 6D, is open Monday through Friday, and some Saturdays, 11am to 5pm, by appointment.