元禄歌仙貝合

紫貝を物の名に　四方歌垣真顔
江ノ島へ　霞わたれる　片瀬村
さきか干潟に　いまやなるらん

紫貝
月痴老人為一筆

18世紀になると貝類収集が流行しますが、それに先立って三十六歌仙になぞらえた歌仙貝の選定がはやりました。色々な組み合わせがありますが、元禄期には３つの歌合が出版されました。
その内の一つに「六々貝合和歌」があります。その組み合わせを模して狂歌を選び、北斎の挿絵と組み合わせたのがこのシリーズです。「うつせ貝」が文政４（１８２１）年巳年の絵暦になっており、また狂歌の内容から翌年に渡って行なわれた江ノ島弁才天の御開帳に合せた物のようです。狂歌は四方真顔を中心とする一派が競っております。

「六々貝合和歌」

きぬた貝　

みなせ貝

いたや貝

しじみ貝

にしき貝

白貝

梅の花貝

すだれ貝

みやこ貝

なでしほ貝

あさり貝

いろ貝

まくら貝

ますほ貝

あわび

ほら貝

あし貝

あこや貝

ちくさ貝

さくら貝

わすれ貝

みぞ貝

かたつかい

おどり貝

しほ貝

すずめ貝

浮世絵の値段は？Christie's 2009.11.4

広重

An album containing the complete set of sixty-nine prints and the table of contents from the series Rokujuyoshu meisho zue [Pictures of Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces], signed Hiroshige hitsu and published by Koshimuraya Heisuke, generally good impressions, good colour, some trimmed, slight staining and wormage to some
All Oban tate-e
£40,000 - £50,000 ($65,600 - $82,000)

An album containing the complete set of the Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi [The fifty-three stations of the Tokaido] - The "Gyosho" Tokaido, each signed Hiroshige ga and published by Ezakiya Kichibei, Ezakiya Tatsuzo and Yamadaya Shojiro, good impressions and colour, very slight staining in places
Aiban yoko-e
£25,000 - £30,000 ($41,000 - $49,200)

UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)
Hodogaya, Fujisawa, Oiso, Odawara and Hakone, from the series Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi [The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido], signed Hiroshige ga, trimmed to borders, laid down on silver card
Oban yoko-e
£4,000 - £4,500 ($6,516 - $7,331)

Mariko, Okabe, Fujieda, Shimada, Kanaya, from the series Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi [The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido], signed Hiroshige ga, trimmed to borders, laid down on silver card
Oban yoko-e
£4,000 - £4,500($6,516 - $7,331)


国芳

Soma no furudairi ai Masakado himegimi Takiyasha yojutsu o motte mikata o atsumuru [In the Ruined Palace at Soma Masakado's Daughter Takiyasha Uses Sorcery to Gain Allies], signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga, some fading, repairs to bottom edges, light stains, traces of backing paper, trimmed
Oban tate-e triptych
£4,000 - £6,000 ($6,560 - $9,840)

Two designs from the enigmatic set of four composite heads, both signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga, rubbing, tears, staining, backed; and a design from the series Nitakaragurakabe no mudagaki [Scribbles on a Storehouse Wall], signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi, overall wear, staining, rubbing, tears, backed
Oban tate-e
£800 - £1,000 ($1,312 - $1,640)

From the series Nijushiko doji kagami [Mirror of the twenty-four paragons of filial piety], signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga, good impression and colour, centrefold, trimmed; and a design from the series Hyakunin isshu no uchi [One Hundred Poems for One Hundred Poets], signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga, good impression and colour, small binding holes to left hand margin
Oban yoko-e and oban tate-e
£1,000 - £1,200 ($1,640 - $1,968)

The last stand of the Kusunoki clan at the battle of Shino-Nawate, signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga, good impression and colour, slight fading, light staining
Oban tate-e triptych
£1,200 - £1,800 ($1,968 - $2,952)

春信

A design of two ladies indoors in springtime, signed Suzuki Harunobu ga, very good impression and colour, slight creasing
Chuban
£2,000 - £3,000 ($3,280 - $4,920)

The second state of a design that was originally a calendar print for Meiwa 2 (1765), bears the name Kyosen and seal Kyosen no in, a design of two ladies in a boat picking lotus flowers, good impression and colour, slight creasing, rubbing to bottom right corner
Chuban yoko-e
£3,000 - £4,000 ($4,920 - $6,560)

Three women walking n the rain with parasols, signed Suzuki Harunobu ga, good impression and colour, light creasing
Chuban
£2,000 - £3,000($3,280 - $4,920)

浮世絵の値段は？

河鍋狂斎

Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889)
A demon charging off with three sake barrels, signed Seisei Kyosai ga and sealed Kyosai, hanging scroll, ink and colour on paper
129.5 x 59cm. excluding mount
Estimate £8,000 - £10,000( $13,032 - $16,290)

北斎

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
Ehon Sakigake [Charging ahead of the Others], 1836, 1 vol, complete, signed Zen Hokusai aratame gakyo rojin manji hitsu (aged 77 years); Ehon Musashi Abumi [Picturebook: The Stirrups of Musashi], 1836, 1 vol, complete, signed Zen Hokusai aratame gakyo-rojin manji hitsu; and Ehon Wakan no Homare [Picture Book of the Glories of Japan and China], 1850, signed Zen Hokusai gakyorojin manji hitsu; all generally good impressions, colours and conditions, covers worn (3)
Estimate £700 - £900 ($1,140 - $1,466)

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
Fugaku Hyakkei [One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji], 3 vols, complete, yellow covers, generally good impessions, pencil annotations to volume one, slight wear and staining to covers (3)

Estimate £500 - £700 ($815 - $1,140)

円山応挙

Two rabbits, signed Okyo sha [drawn by Okyo], and sealed Okyo no in and Chusen, hanging scroll, ink on paper
93cm. x 27cm. excluding mount
£18,000 - £20,000 ($29,520 - $32,800)

写楽に史上最高５３５０万円 於ＨＯＴＥＬ ＤＯＲＯＵＯＴ

写楽の石部金石予想を越える高額で落札された。
北斎が一度１億円を付けたがそれは肉筆画、その後２度ほど珍品が出品されたが成立しなかった。
参考画像としてボストン美術館の２枚を揚げる。
保存状態の良いボストン美術館のものよりさらに質がいい。
背景の雲母摺りも綺麗に残っています。
キラ摺りは文字通りで鈍い銀色の光沢があります。
新人ながらいきなり高コストの豪華な作品を任されたことも、写楽は誰かの謎を呼んだ一因。
画像２は後摺りでしょうか

【パリ時事】江戸時代の浮世絵２５０点以上が１６日、パリ市内でオークションに掛けられ、東洲斎写楽の役者絵「嵐竜蔵の金貸石部金吉」が３９万６５４５ユーロ（約５３５０万円）で競り落とされた。競売商ピアザによると、写楽の浮世絵１枚の落札額としては史上最高だという。
　パリでの浮世絵の大規模な競売は７年ぶり。落札総額は約２６０万ユーロ（約３億５１００万円）に達し、根強い浮世絵人気を示した。
　写楽は１７９４～９５年のわずか１０カ月間に１４０点余の作品を残して消えた浮世絵師。「嵐竜蔵の金貸石部金吉」は、歌舞伎に登場する金貸し役を描いたとされる。（2009/10/17-05:59）

主な出品作品

http://www.piasa.auction.fr/pdf/20091016_uk.pdf

Japonisme In The Graphic Arts

This exhibition of 10 works on paper demonstrates the impact that Japanese color woodblock prints had on Western printmaking in the late 19th century. Examples by Hiroshige, Sharaku and Utamaro show influences on subject matter and composition, such as flattened space, high horizon line and abstract patterning. Japonisme in the Graphic Arts will showcase woodcuts, lithographs and etchings by the French, Dutch and American expatriate artists James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Rivière and Vincent Van Gogh. The exhibition will display Henri Rivière's color woodblock print Funeral with Umbrellas, a recent acquisition that vividly exemplifies the assimilation of Japanese aesthetics into French printmaking. Curated by Eric Lutz, assistant curator of prints, drawings and photographs, Japonisme in the Graphic Arts will be on view in Gallery 321,

Saint Louis Art Museum    
October 2–December 13, 2009.

風流五葉の松
歌麿

英泉７点

先日ニューヨークのオークションに出品された７点の英泉。
内６点が落札されたようです。

Courtesan on Parade beneath Flowering Cherry
Keisai Eisen (1790–1848)
Hanging scroll: ink, color, gold, and silver pigment on silk
90.2 x 29.8 cm; Bunsei era, 1820–25
Signature: Keisai Eisen, sealed Keisai

Hanaogi Reading a Letter by Lamplight
Keisai Eisen (1790–1848)
Hanging scroll: ink, color, and gold pigment on silk
84.8 x 35.7 cm; late Tempo era, ca 1838–42
Signature: Keisai Eisen, sealed Kei and Sai

千草

先日クリスティーズで予想の数倍で落札された「千草」、買い手はSmithsonian's Freer Gallery of Artでした。
１０月１日付けのメルマガで「千種」の特徴、来歴を紹介しています。
http://www.asia.si.edu/press/prTea.htm
一般公開の詳細は来年発表とのことです。

今回のオークションでは出品者から使用許可を事前にとっていたそうです。
そして下見会場でごく一部の限られた人物にお点前が供されたとか。
たとえ手に届かない物でも下見に行くのも一興かも知れません。

してその「千種」ですが、
富田金襴の口覆、柴田緞子の底敷衣、藤田家設えの口緒・長緒、久田家の箱鍵まで付いているそうです。
そして特筆すべきは多くの書付の中の一つ、巻物仕立の「利休の文」。
当時の所有者で堺の豪商、誉田屋徳林宛てに記して、
「貴方様がお見つけになられた茶壷は、千金の値が御座いますによって、どうぞ末永く大切になされたら宜しいかと存じます。」
そしてこの茶壷が登場する文献から判る来歴は
鳥居引拙ー重宗甫ー誉田屋徳林ー有馬頼旨ー有馬則維ー徳川綱吉（柳営御物）ー表千家久田家ー藤田伝三郎ー藤田家
と錚々たる名が並びます。

このオ－クションには同時に楽家五代宗入の「千鳥」など数点が落札されました。
まとまって美術館にという選択肢もあったようですが、それでは道具としての命を失うというのが所有者のお考えだったそうです。

「よみがえる浮世絵－うるわしき大正新版画」展

Shin hanga bringing ukiyo-e back to life

The great print works of ukiyo-e, by the likes of Hokusai, Hiroshige, and Utamaro, became fine art almost by accident. Originally mass produced for the popular market, their status was roughly equivalent to that of illustrated calendars and posters of pop stars today. But, ironically, the fact that they weren't regarded as particularly valuable by the Japanese led them to be considered fine art abroad, as they were either discarded — increasing their rarity value — or exported to lands where their novelty and aesthetic merits gained them a keen following.

The new prints: "The Actor Onoe Matsusuke IV as Komori Yasu in the Play `Yowa Nasake Ukina' " (1917) by Koka Yamamura (above) and "The Actor Ichimura Uzaemon XV as Iriya Naozamurai in the Play `Naozamurai' " (1925) by Shunsen Natori. COURTESY OF THE EDO-TOKYO MUSEUM

But the very ease with which print art can be reproduced meant that subsequent ukiyo-e always faced the danger of being cheapened by overproduction, which is exactly what had happened by the end of the 19th century.

The story of Japanese print art in the 20th century centers on its attempt to regain something of that former high-art status. "Beautiful Shin-hanga — Revitalization of Ukiyo-e," an exhibition at the Edo-Tokyo Museum, looks at an important part of this interesting tale.

A key figure in the saga is Shozaburo Watanabe, the Tokyo publisher who coined the phrase shin hanga (new prints) in 1915 to distinguish the movement from the devalued mass-market ukiyo-e. Watanabe was an astute businessman who aimed to maintain high-value demand for his products by appealing to Western tastes while also maintaining quality and relative rarity.

The first stage in his entrepreneurial scheme was to establish a stylistic difference. Although he had enjoyed success publishing the works of Shotei Takahashi, this artist's work was stylistically too similar to preceding ukiyo-e artists. Instead Watanabe turned to a stranded Austrian painter, Fritz Capelari, trapped in Japan by the outbreak of World War I.

After seeing Capelari's watercolors in an exhibition at a department store, Watanabe contacted the artist and suggested a collaboration. As Capelari's father had been a decorative wood carver, he was fascinated with the carving and printing aspects of the project and readily agreed, producing works like "Pine Trees by the Moat" (1915) that stylized traditional ukiyo-e subject matter in a distinctly modern way, helping to set shin hanga apart.

T he foreign contribution to the movement seems to have been considerable. The exhibition also includes excellent examples by Paul Jacoulet, Elizabeth Keith, Bertha Lum, and Charles W. Bartlett. But foreigners were not always an easy fit in the predominantly Japanese world of hanga. For example, the art critic Usui Kojima criticized Bartlett's choice of Indian subject matter in an open letter to the art magazine "Bijutsu Gaho" in 1916.

Even Capelari, who was praised in the same letter by Kojima, seems to have been on a different track. This is most clearly demonstrated by his bijnga (pictures of beautiful women). In both "Woman with a dog" (1915) and "Woman before a Mirror" (1915), the beauties have the type of round face that many Westerners associate with east Asians, instead of the more artistically conventional, stylized long, elegant face favored by most Japanese artists.

Also, with the main market being overseas, it was important to maintain the Japanese character of the art.

The exhibition includes a total of 250 items, but is centered on 30 prints from the Robert Muller collection of the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler gallery. Starting in 1931, Muller, an American dealer and collector, amassed the world's foremost collection of shin hanga before his death in 2003. Like most Western collectors, he was clearly in favor of greater "authenticity," preferring Japanese to foreign hanga artists, although the exhibition does include one Capelari collected by Muller.

W hile foreign artists helped to set shin hanga apart, Watanabe was astute enough to realize that the future lay in finding Japanese artists who could create the kind of "authenticity" collectors required but at the same time add something of the new modern spirit. This meant staying thematically close to the ukiyo-e tradition, with images of beautiful ladies, scenery, temples, actors, and so on, while introducing modern stylistic devices, like naturalistic light, color gradations, three- dimensionality, and a conscious use of texture.

Hasui Kawase's "Kiyosu Bridge" (1931) and "The Zojoji Temple in Snow" (1953) show most of these stylistic features in play. The latter work is also used in the exhibition to illustrate the production process and to emphasize the importance of quality, with several of the actual woodblocks on display, as well as a video showing how the image was carefully built up using 42 impressions overlaid on the same piece of paper.

You can also see prints by Shunsen Natori and Koka Yamamura, showing the leading actors of the day, such as the latter's "The Actor Onoe Matsusuke IV as Komori Yasu in the Play Yowa Nasake Ukina" (1917).

The dominant note in the exhibition, however, is sounded by the bijinga of Shinsui Ito, Goyo Hashiguchi, and others, showing that foreign perceptions of Japanese beauty are irretrievably intertwined with the geisha and Madame Butterfly myths, to which temples, flowers, seascapes, actors, and even Mount Fuji are mere backdrops.

ＪＡＰＡＮ　ＴＩＭＥＳ　Friday, Oct. 2, 2009