z ‘ aay rg Ketel ne Jota tae : ; apie a ; wee a 7 “EDN Tite id Se itv | i. , 4 , g25—> aie q Lie / # * 2 \ ~ ~ —< ‘ ‘ The Committee on Publications of The Grolier Club certifies that this copy of 4 Descriptive Catalogue of an Exhibition of Japanese Figure Prints from Moronobu to Toyokuni is one of an edition of three hundred copies, printed on Van Gelder Zonen paper, at The Gilliss Press. The presswork was completed in the month of April, 1924. 6 na eres 28 ae JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS FROM MORONOBU TO TOYOKUNI ReeeeoCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE OF AN EXHIBITION OF peer NE Sok Meee RE PRINTS FROM MORONOBU TO TOYOKUNI BY Poe soy Le DOU A NEW YORK Poe GROLIER CLUS 1924 ‘ , by List OF PLATES PREFACE CATALOGUE CONTENTS Krad * <~a ay os aignn'? a+ a Ife tO uRaeAT ES PLATE “NUMBER PAGE FRONTISPIECE HARUNOBU No. 21. . . Title PLATE I Mitsunopu No. 3. . . 6 PLATE II RIYOMASU ONG. * 4 9% 4 8 PLATE III Ki YONOBU ONO Ae Fol ee Ae Yo PLATE Iv HOYONORU OMG. 13. 72%" S57 416 PLATE V Tovonosu wNovet4a. 1 7S S418 PLATE VI MASANOBU NG: 715 0°" T° 4°20 PLATE VII Bivonine ts NGs10:..4 48 22 PLATE VIII KIVOMITSU INDE 17° 4 Fe 24 PLATE IX Kryomitsu. No. 18. . . ~ 26 PLATE X Kiyomitsu No. 19. . . 28 PLATE XI HARUNOBUY NO, 32047 2236) 40 PLATE XII HARUSHIGE No. 36. . . 32 PLATE XIII SHUNSHO Nov 42a eae a0 PLATE XIV SHUNSHO NOY a4 ~ ae a 1X PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE PLATE XV XVI XVII XVIII XIX XX XXI XXII XXIII XXIV XXV XXVI XXVII XXVIII LIST OF PLATES CATALOGUE NUMBER SHUNSHO No. 49 SHUNKO No. 54 . SHUNKO No. 55 SHUNYEI No. 58 SHUNYEI No. 59 SHUNYEI No. 60 SHUNYEI No. 61 KorrusaAl No. 72 SHIGEMASA No. 74 KrvonaGA No. 77 KrvonaGA No. 82 Toyokuni’ No. 121 Toyokuni’ No. 124 Toyokuni’ No. 125 FACING PAGE 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 62 84 86 88 PREEACE By the middle of our seventeenth century, when the ancient feudal wars of Japan had become legends and the country had been long at peace, the prosperous middle classes of the capital and, to a certain extent, of the whole Empire had be- gun to demand self-expression in art. They were comparatively rich, they felt secure, they were light-hearted, bent upon pleasure. Poetry they had, and the minor arts; but painting, sculpture and the theatre were in the service of the Bud- dhist church or of the nobles—a condition not to be tolerated by a nation which, it may be claimed, was more keen in its esthetic appreciation than any other that had been in the world since Athens fell—when once the great body of the people had become rich enough, settled enough to get what it wanted. From the earlier marionette shows a popular theatre was developed that be- came the national passion; a popular school of painting sprang into being, gathering to itself and expanding certain phases of earlier Japanese art; and this school, disregarding the canons of classical painting, unmindful of the Buddhist xi PREFACE spiritualities, or treating them with scant rever- erence, concerned itself solely with the glamor of daily existence, the joy of life, the beauty of the present world. The chosen medium of this school was the color print. Prints were made cheaply and sold by thousands. They served the purpose of our Sunday Supplements. They depicted the popular actors in favorite réles, the famous courtesans,—a class of women who appear to have been often of exquisite cultivation, much like the Greek hetzerz. They were used as fash- ion plates; the country gentlemen who were obliged by law to come up to the capital once a year, the merchants who came in from outlying districts, took them home to show the people in their native villages the styles of the hour, the gay life of the city. They were the “ Vogue” and “Theatre Magazine” of their time; but they were as well marvels of line and color, marvels of tech- nical achievement, so filled with a sense of the joy and beauty of life, preserving with such passionate intensity, such sensitive appreciation each ephemeral loveliness, that they have won a place apart in the art of the world and in the af- fections of those who are familiar with them. It is not for a catalogue to discuss the influence of Japanese prints on modern European painting, or to point out wherein they resemble, or differ from, the earlier art of the West. It is necessary, however, to outline briefly, as they are reached, the stages of technical development. The de- X11 PREFACE tails of the process have been described in many books. Whenever a reproduction of the actual print exhibited has been published, the reference is given. Whenever other impressions of the prints shown have been reproduced, the effort has been made to refer to the most important or most easily accessible book or catalogue in which the subject appears—the series of Vignier-Inada Cat- alogues, published in Paris, usually being taken as the standard. When there is no reference to a reproduction of a print or subject, it may be in- ferred that none has been found; and in selecting, from among the two hundred and fifty prints ex- hibited by the Grolier Club, forty-two for repro- duction in these catalogues, the choice has been confined to those subjects which,have not been reproduced hitherto, or have been reproduced only in very obscure places. The negatives have not been retouched, so that the reproductions show the actual qualities of impression and condi- tion of the prints. Sizes are given in inches. No one could write about Japanese Prints with- out being under direct and constant obligation to Mr. Frederick W. Gookin, who has made a long and special study of the subject—particularly of the actor prints. The compiler of this catalogue has had the advantage not only of Mr. Gookin’s published writings but of years of friendly cor- respondence and conversation as well. Xiil PREFACE To another friend, Mr. Kihachiro Matsuki of Kamakura, student of prints, lover and preserver of the poetry and legend of his land, almost equal obligation should be acknowledged. During hap- py hours passed with Mr. Matsuki the writer gained some insight into the meaning of prints, some knowledge of the quaint lore and romantic story that form their obvious background to a Japanese. To these names it is a pleasure to add that of Mr. Shigeyoshi Obata, the distinguished trans- lator of Li Po, who has given kind assistance in connection with the interpretation of poems. Li XIV CATALOGUE br ater ie x ns | ion: Wee i oH a +a ™ eee ty, | o = ee ALG LF INK-PRINTS All Japanese prints are from wood blocks, and in the earlier ones exhibited, which are known as sumi-ye, or ink prints, one block alone was used— black outlines being printed on white paper to make the picture. Later, in the so-called “ Bro- cade Pictures” of many colors, a separate block was cut for each color, so that the black outline impression from what had come to be known as the key block, sometimes received impressions from more than twenty-five other blocks before the finished print was obtained. MORONOBU (Ca. 1625-1695) A samurai and his sweetheart seated. Another woman at the right, at the left a burning candle in a tall stand. On the floor is a writing box with brushes, and beside it is an erotic poem by Narihira,.a celebrity of the 9th Century, who is as famous for his intrigues as for his verses. This print is an excellent example of Moronobu’s power, but it does not show the equally charac- teristic archness and humor which are apparent in many of his faces—particularly in those of the 3 THE GROLIER CLUB Kyoto set. It is unsigned, as is usual with Moronobu, and undated; but as the pattern of the woman’s obi, or sash, and the style of hair arrangement reappear in the prints by the same artist that are reproduced in the Vignier-Inada Catalogue, Vol. I, No. 10, and the catalogue of the Field Collection, No. 12, it is likely that the three prints were made in the same year—perhaps about 1680. Fashions changed quickly in Yedo in those gay days and it was de rigeur for the courtesans, actors, and prosperous, pleasure-loy- ing people of the middle class, who are shown in the prints, to follow them closely. The uni- dentified mon, or crest, of the lover appears in another print by Moronobu, which is reproduced in the French edition of Von Seidlitz, Plate 5. The print exhibited is reproduced in “Asia,” August, 1923; Kurth reproduces part of the sub- ject, spoiling the composition, in his “ Japanische Holzschnitt,” Plate 6. Size 102 x 153. OKUMURA MASANOBU (Ca. 1685-1768) An example of Japanese wit, showing with what irreverent levity the public for whom prints were designed treated the solemn legends of old China. Incidentally it gives an excellent illustration of how much is lost by those who consider merely the decorative value of Japanese prints—their composition, line, and color—without attempting to discover the meaning. It is the over-tones 4 JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS that we miss, just as a Japanese, who was not sufficiently conversant with Western thought, might see only line in a Daumier cartoon or a Descent from the Cross. The difficulty, how- ever, of finding the ultimate, central meaning or even the connotations of almost any work of Japanese or Chinese art is immense, if not insu- perable, for everything is stated indirectly, by implication or through hidden meanings; the ar- tist being able to rely upon the quickness of per- ception of the spectator and his accumulation of traditional learning. Fortunately the allusion in this print is clear. Generations of Japanese children had been nursed on the typically Chinese story of a noble hermit sage whose solitary con- templation had been interrupted by a verbal message asking him to come back into the world of men and be-Emperor. When the messenger had departed, the incorruptible one was found by his servant seated beside a waterfall busily wash- ing from his ears the taint of what they had heard; and the tale of worldly temptation so shocked the servant that he led back an ox he had been about to water, refusing to let the beast drink of the polluted stream. It is a Chinese Sunday School story with an irreprochable Roman moral, but what do the Japanese—the Greeks of Asia— do with it? The print shows a gentleman, who is not a hermit, washing his ear, while a somewhat gay lady leads away her pet cat. Behind them, for sufficient caption, is depicted a classical paint- y) QW THE GROLIER CLUB ing of a waterfall drawn in the Chinese manner. Reproduced, Catalogue of Field Collection, No. 37: The print is signed and sealed by Okumura Ma- sanobu, and was published by Kikuya about 1715. Size 112 x 163. HASEGAWA MITSUNOBU (worked from about 1720 to about 1755) Two women in a room opening on a verandah. One, with toilet articles beside her, is arranging her hair before a low mirror, the other stands holding a box of face powder. The massiveness of design and the bold brush strokes of Moronobu have yielded to the stately grace of such figures as these. In the work of the contemporary Sukenobu the grace has become sweetness and the stateliness is gone. Hasegawa Mitsunobu was a painter whose few prints are excessively rare. He appears to have been born in Osaka and to have come later to Yedo. Books are recorded that were illustrated by him and were published from 1724 to 1754. He sometimes signed his work Braioken Eishun, or Shosuiken or Ryusuiken. The print exhibited probably appeared before 1735 and is the seventh sheet of a set of nine, four of which are in New York, the last being signed Ryusuiken Hasegawa Mitsunobu. No print by this artist appears to have been previously reproduced. Size 103 X 15. (Plate 1). 6 ” py SN eget Gy \ Ve AT | \ MITSUNOBU NO. 3 PLATE I JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS PRINTS COLORED BY HAND Almost from the beginning some impressions of the black and white ink-prints had been colored by hand; but as the art of printing developed and prints became popular, hand coloring became the rule rather than the exception, and was done much more carefully, either by the artist himself or under his direction. At first a dull orange, called fan, was the only pigment applied, but soon other colors were added, the total effect fre- quently being heightened by the use of gold powder and black lacquer. KIYOMASU (?-1764) Monaka reading. A Tan-ye, or print colored by hand with dull orange. A greenish yellow has been used in other parts of the design. Monaka, a famous public beauty of her time, whose name and address are given, stands in her gorgeous robes reading a poem, only the essential part of which is visible to us: Life is full of trouble, but the plum- blossoms by the window The poem, and indeed the whole print, is signifi- cant of the extent to which the gentle aesthet- icism and delicate appreciation of nature that had come through the influence of Zen Buddhism had influenced even the lower classes. The nobles had paintings done in Chinese ink, in 7 THE GROLIER CLUB which the spiritual significance of the subject— quality in it that was eternal—was indicated by a few brush-strokes; the people had prints like this. The tying of the ob1, or sash, in front indicates the station of the wearer, but these women were creatures of exquisite culture, trained in all the amenities of life; and while elopement with one of them was apt to lead to a double suicide, they were not looked down upon as they have been at other times and in other lands. Comparison with Athens is again inevitable. There is a peculiar stateliness about this design, a bigness in a small space, that is somewhat unusual. The print was published by Yamakichi probably about 1715, and is attributed with considerable confidence to the young Kiyomasu, though certain critics have tended to consider it the work of Moroshige, or the first Kiyonobu, or some member of the Kwaigetsudo group. It has been reproduced in color as the frontispiece of the 1922 edition of “The Book of Tea.” Size 124 x6. (Plate I). KONDO KIYOHARU (worked Ca. 1715-1735) A Buddhist nun, or possibly the actor Sanjo Kantaro in the réle of a Buddhist nun, carrying a box. The large shade hat is sprinkled with gold powder. This print was probably issued about 1718. It is unsigned but is attributed to Kondo Kiyo- 8 PLATE II KIYOMASU NO. 4 JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS haru because of certain characteristics of drawing which seem to distinguish his work from that of the equally rare artist, Kondo Katsunobu, to whom otherwise the attribution might be made. Formerly in the Jaekel Collection, this print was reproduced in color by Miinsterberg, Vol. III, p. 318. Size 12} x 53. KIYONOBU First (1664-17209) The actor, Ichikawa Monnosuke the first, in the role of an exhibitor of trained monkeys. The names of actors went on from generation to generation, being given to adopted sons when there were no descendants capable of bearing them with sufficient distinction. In some cases the new bearer of a name that had lapsed was chosen by vote of his peers, and actors changed their names and identifying mon, or crests, with bewildering frequency. Sometimes it is only by the surprisingly exact portraiture that came into vogue with the actor prints of a slightly later date that it is possible to tell which generation is depicted. This print, which is unusually fine in line and color, as well as in condition, must have appeared between 1719, when the first Monnosuke adopted the mon shown, and 1729 when he, as well as the artist, died. There is no dispute as to the attri- bution. . In this Catalogue the attempt has not always 9 THE GROLIER CLUB been made to distinguish between different gen- erations of actors of the same name, the Exhibi- tion being intended primarily for those who are not specialists in the subject. If these notes help some to understand and appreciate, they will have served their sole purpose. The human background of Japanese prints should be of in- terest to all, the erudite historical problems connected with them are for specialists alone. Print reproduced, “Asia,’’ August, 1923. Subject reproduced in color, Plate No. 16 of the unfinished work by Barboutau (1914) which was interrupted by his death. Size 13} X 64. 7 KIYONOBU First The actor Tatsuoka Hisagiku, as a woman carry- ing on a small stand the conventional decoration for a wedding ceremony, which is made up of the four symbols of longevity—the pine, the peach, the crane, the tortoise. On account of various scandals which culminated in a celebrated murder, it became the law that no woman should appear on the stage. In prints, the actors are always men; the illusion, however, is perfect, as, except for the artificial voice to which one grows quickly accustomed, it is perfect in the Japanese theatre of to-day. When a boy was born in an actor’s family, his parents decided quickly whether he should play male or female parts, and his training was in accordance with 10 KIYONOBU NO. 7 PLATE. {II SL A bear Te et ew ae a, 6 i 7 “5 a JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS their decision. Everything in women’s rdles is played differently, even to all the gestures; and actors trained from childhood for these parts achieve an astonishing grace of carefully thought out rhythmic motion. Print reproduced in the Catalogue of the Kinbei Murata Sale of September, 1918. Signed Torii Kiyonobu and published by Mura- taya, probably about the same date as the pre- ceding number. Size 12 x 6. (Plate III). 8 SHIGENAGA (1697-1756) The actor Arashi Wakano, as a woman under an umbrella walking in the snow and turning to look at the blossoms on a gnarled tree. In Japan, blossoms and snow actually are seen together, the rose camelias are bright under the first soft snow of autumn, and the blooms come on the plum trees before winter has begun to turn to- ward spring. Thecurious decoration of the outer _ kimono is formed of miniature portraits of some of the Thirty-six Famous Poets, of whom Nari- hira (see note on Number 1.) was one. These thirty-six poets were a favorite subject of art, their names and their verses being familiar to all. Reproduced as No. 25 in the Catalogue of the Frederick May Collection. The print is signed by Shigenaga and was pub- lished by Igaya about 1725. Size 13% x 64. 11 THE GROLIER CLUB 9 OKUMURA MASANOBU A man and a woman in a room watching a youth who is about to write. Note the position of the brush and hand, so different from the Occidental one. Painting, which was closely akin to the equally prized art of calligraphy, was done in the same manner. In the foreground area writing box with its slab of black Chinese ink, and a smoking box with a pipe that would hold the usual three puffs of tobacco which are so dear to the Japanese. Opium smoking was never practised in Japan. Behind the group of people are a saké pot, a cup on a stand, and a tray of food with chopsticks. The rear wall is decorated with a lovely snow land- scape; and on the left is a poem of the short sev- enteen-syllable form, written by the artist, which refers to a particularly dainty small plum that is nicknamed, by way of humor, after those gigantic and grotesque guardians of the temple gates— called Nio, and really is a love poem in disguise. The allusions in the print are not wholly clear. The subject is reproduced in the V. I. Catalogue, Vol. I., No. 141, but from an impression that lacks the signature and seal. Signed and sealed by Masanobu. Date probably a little later than that of Number 2 by the same artist. Size 9% x 14} 10 TOSHINOBU (worked Ca. 1725-1742) A dandy of more than questionable morals out 12 I! JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS walking on a cold day. His umbrella, which bears the characters wishing long life, is sprinkled with gold and he is mounted on geta, or pattens, high enough to protect him from any depth of mud or slush. The heavy outer coat that he wears is decorated with the mon of various popular actors. The similarity in the names of many of the print designers is because a pupil was given, as a sort of diploma, when he became proficient enough, the right to adopt a part of his master’s studio name. The man who called himself, as an artist, Mas- anobu was the teacher as well as the father of Toshinobu. This rule has many notable excep- tions, for there are similarities of sound that have nothing to do with the studio in which an artist received his training. Toshinobu appears to have died young; while his father, Masanobu, lived on to a ripe old age, pro- ducing many designs that were printed in two colors, and even surviving to the beginning of the polychrome period. This print probably appeared about 1725, and probably is an early Toshinobu showing the in- fluence of his father. It was formerly in the Jaekel Collection and was reproduced in color by Miinsterberg, Vol. III, p. 319, who attributed it to Masanobu. Size 124 x 6. KI YOMASU A later print than Number 4, by the same artist. 13 THE GROLIER CLUB Sanjo Kantaro, as a woman arranging her hair before a lacquer mirror. He is in the réle of Yao-ya O Shichi, a grocer’s daughter, who, when her father’s house burned down, was sent to stay in a temple where she promptly fell in love with a young student. On her return home she set fire to the recently completed new house in the hope of being sent back to her lover; but was unfortunate enough to choose a windy day so that half the town burned. There was a prompt investigation and the lady was executed—to be- come thereafter a heroine of romance. The original creator of the part made such a success in it that in revivals of the play his mon— a sealed letter—was used by the leading actor with his own, and eventually came to be an indi- cation of the rdle. The decorations on the robe represent wooden clappers strung together to be hung in the wind and frighten birds from the rice-fields; they are the Japanese equivalent of our scare-crows. This print is known to be by Kiyomasu because the impression in the Vever Collection, which is reproduced by Von Seidlitz, French Edition, Plate 10, bears his signature. Date about 1725. Size 122 x 53. 12 TOYONOBU (1711-1785) The two end sheets of a triptych representing the “Beauties of the Three Cities,” Kyoto, Osaka, 14 JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS and Yedo (now called Tokyo). The color effect is greatly heightened by the use of lacquer and gold powder. These prints were published by Maruya and are signed Nishimura Magosaburo, a signature which has recently been discovered to be an early one of the great Toyonobu, who also signed in his youth Shigenobu; the two earlier signatures being found on prints that appeared between 1730 and 1743. The triptych of which these are a part must have been printed nearer to the earlier than to the later of the dates given. Size of each sheet 124 x 6. EXPERIMENTS IN COLOR PRINTING Shortly after 1740, it was discovered that by the use of a simple device to insure perfect regis- ter, two color blocks could be added to the black- outline keyblock, the sheet on which the finished print was to appear being pressed on each of these in turn. These two-color prints are called Bent- ye because beni—a somewhat evanescent rose— always was used, the other color being at first green and afterwards either green or blue. A little later a third block was added, but was not always used; and, as experiments in over-printing were made, the range of color was greatly in- creased, before the final development of full polychrome printing, about 1764 and 1765. 15 THE GROLIER CLUB 13 TOYONOBU An example of the two-color prints of an artist whose earlier hand-colored work is shown as Number 12. This print was issued for the revival of another famous play, “The Revenge of the Soga Broth- ers,’ a story of vendetta coming down from the period of the twelfth century feudal wars, that holds its place on the stage to-day. Japan is the only important nation in the present world whose legendary and heroic past lives in the hearts of the people, as familiar to them as were the legends of Troy and Thebes to the audi- ences for whom /Eschylus and Sophocles wrote. It is as though the stories of King Arthur, the death of Roland, the Crusades, the Wars of the Roses, were so vital a part of our imaginative outlook that we would pack the theatres, year after year, to see them produced. The Soga brothers accomplished their revenge and died tragically, both in early youth. The poem on the print reads: “Youthful Brothers, comparable only to young maples in early leaf.”’ For the way to identify the Soga brothers in prints see note under Number 48. The actors here are Onoe Kikiyord (right) as Soga no Gord, and Ichimura Kamiz6 as Soga no Juro. The drama was “ Nannakura Wakayagi Soga, and was performed at the Ichimura Theatre, Yedo, in the first month of Eukyé Isire (February, 1742). 16 % : A> 4 - . i F [Ss ZS W TOYONOBU NO. 13 PLATE TV ae aad iwi - 7 a’ Sie as JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS Signed by Toyonobu and published by Maruko in 1744. Size 15 x 11%. (Plate IV). 14 TOYONOBU Nakamura Kiyozo as a girl called Matsuyama (Pine mountain), and Ichimura Kamezo as an attendant holding her umbrella. At least the lower mon on the right sleeve of Kiyoz6 appears to have been put in by a plug in the block, per- haps to replace that of an actor who died during the run of the play. Subject reproduced, ‘‘Estampes appartenant aun Amateur de |’Etranger.”’ Paris, Hotel Drouot, June 14, 1909, No. 20. Compare Moslé Catalogue, No. 1878. Signed and sealed by Toyonobu and published by Urokogataya probably between 1748 and 1750. Size 162 x 12. (Plate V). MASANOBU Numbers 2 and 9 in this exhibition show earlier work of the long-lived Masanobu, the first in black and white only, and the second hand-col- ored. Neither one compares in beauty of line with this two-color print, and the soft fading by time of its characteristic rose and green has given it an added charm all its own. The print was issued in 1750 for another revival of the play described under Number 11, and shows the fair incendiary strolling with her lover, while music is the food of love. The instrument 17 16 THE GROLIER CLUB in her hand is a samisen, or Japanese banjo, and his a kokyu, or three-stringed fiddle. Note the sealed letter—a reminder once again of the ori- ginal creator of the rdle. The poem on the print reads: Here in Sacred Ise, where the cherrv is always in bloom, we find our hill of happy meeting. Signed and sealed by Masanobu. Size 16 x 114. (Plate VI). KIYOHIRO (worked Ca. 1745-1758) Segawa Kikunojé I and II were the most famous and most exquisitely depicted of all actors of women’s roles. Each was the popular idol of his time, and the head—at least of Kikunojé I, must have been turned by it, for here beside his portrait he writes a poem, signed with his per- sonal name—Roko, in which he says: “As a woman he has as many admirers as the flowers” —the admiration of flowers being, of course, a universal characteristic of the Japanese. Doubt- less the statement was true; but in our Western world of newspapers and press agents, actors can blush with surprise when they hear such things said by others. Kikunoj6’s mon—a sheaf of cotton—is the chief decoration of his costume; there can be no mistake about who he is. The composition is of extreme grace and one can im- agine with what consummate art an actor who wore his clothes so well and had such clothes to 18 XN i Wegyneetttl PLATE V TOYONOBU NO. 14 18 JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS wear, would move about the stage, managing the undulating line of the draperies. Print reproduced, Kinbei Murata Catalogue of September, 1917, No. 22. Signed and sealed by Kiyohiro and published by Yamamoto, about 1748. Size 15x 7. (Plate VII). KIYOMATSU (1735-1785) The actor Sanogawa Ichimatsu holding a long pipe and standing beside a bench on which is his smoking box. The actor is in the rdéle of one of the Soga brothers whose tragic story is outlined in the note on Number 13. The way to recognize the Soga brothers in prints is described under Number 48. This one is Soga no Gord. - Signed Torii Kiyomitsu. Size 128 x 53. (Plate VIII). This and the two following prints by Kiyomitsu may be dated roughly between 1760 and 1770. Prints in two and three colors continued to be made for some years after the invention of polychrome printing. KIYOMITSU The actor Adzuma Tozo as a woman under a maple, carrying bird cages. Signed by Kiyomitsu and published by Nishi- mura. | Size 12% x 5%. (Plate IX). 19 19 20 THE GROLIER CLUB KIYOMITSU The actor Yamashita Kinsaku as a woman with blossoms in her hair, carrying a blossoming branch, from which is suspended a foot-ball. Foot-ball in Japan was a much more stately game than it is with us and was played in flowing garments of brocade. Signed by Kiyomitsu. Size 124 x 54. (Plate X). KIYOMITSU, KIYOTSUNE (worked Ca. 1756- 1775) and HARUNOBU (born about 1730, died 1770) “The Beauties of Three Cities,’ done by three different artists. (For the subject compare No. 12.) Behind the three girls are shown the three flowers that are associated with the cities, and each wears the mon of a favorite actor. Above each is a love poem. This triptych must have appeared about the time of the perfecting of polychrome printing by Harunobu, the great name of the period between 1764 and the date of his untimely death; but as two of its three sheets are by artists of the pre- ceding period, the last of the “Primitives,” it serves very well to mark the transition between the two- and three-color prints and the real. “Brocade Pictures,” besides being in itself a thing of peculiar loveliness. Print reproduced as No. 83 of the F. W. Hunter 20 LER SE Aue hi — 5 I MASANOBU NO. PLATE VI JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS Catalogue, with the sheets arranged in the wrong order. Signed by the three artists. Date about 1765. Size 122 x 163. The period of the “Primitives” is ended. We pass now to the work of artists each of whom will be considered by himself. HARUNOBU (born about 1730, died 1770) Harunobu, who disputes with three very dif- ferent artists, Kiyonaga, Sharaku, and Utamaro, the claim to first rank among the designers of figure prints of the popular school, unfortunately died young. His work before 1764 is little known and of little distinction, but between that date and his death in 1770 he produced an immense number of designs that are most beautiful in themselves and, because of a peculiar quality that is in them, have endeared him to the heart of the world. He is the artist of young girlhood, the poet of youth. His figures, untouched by sorrow, move through an earthly paradise, a fairyland of loveliness, the world that might be rather than the world that is. He has caught and rendered for us the evanescent charm of youth; he has sought to preserve, with the fresh- ness of the morning on it, that fleeting moment between the opening of the bud and the fall of 21 21 THE GROLIER CLUB the first petal, in which alone beauty is perfect, unalloyed. Harunobu did not have the stateli- ness of Kiyonaga, the sardonic power of Sharaku, nor the range of Utamaro; he turned away from the theatre, was, in the main, unmindful of the demt-monde; what he did have, he had supremely —his vision of the spring-time of life and love. All of the fifteen prints by Harunobu in this Exhibition can be dated between 1764 and 1770; most of them were done before 1767. They have been selected with sorrow and misgiving from about seventy available examples, and, fortu- nately, it is not necessary to discuss in connection with them the vexed, irrelevant questions of schol- arship. In the earlier ones the color-scheme is more simple, with a delicate yellow predomi- nating. HARUNOBU Young lovers playing a flute. Behind them is a screen decorated with pine branches. The bamboo leaves in the decoration of the girl’s gown are so arranged as to give the numerals of the Japanese year equivalent to our 1765. This year was the nine hundredth anniversary of the entrance of Michizane—a statesman, scholar and artist of old—to the court of the Emperor, and a number of so-called calendar prints were de- signed toward the close of 1764 and issued at the beginning of the New Year as part of the popular 22 PLATE VII KIYOHIRO NO. 16 er ¥ 22 23 JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS celebration of the event. (See Grolier Club: Catalogue of Japanese Landscape Prints, Num- ber 8.) No other impression of this print ap- pears to have survived. The seal is that of a collector. Size 10 x 72. (Frontispiece). HARUNOBU A young girl as Moso. This is another calendar print of the same year, the numerals being found among the bamboo leaves. Moso, one of “The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety” of Chinese moralizing, went out barefoot in winter to search for young bamboo shoots, a table delicacy for which his aged mother craved, and was rewarded by having them sprout miraculously through the snow. The story, of course, was thoroughly familiar to the Japanese, but Moso is represented here by a young girl. Subject reproduced, Blanchard Catalogue, No. 7, and, from a much trimmed impression, Hayashi Catalogue, p. 168. Size 11% x 83. HARUNOBU A young girl seated in a boat under drooping willow branches. She wears a long court hat of the olden time and has beside her a small drum—one of the classical instruments used from of old. The reference is to the pleasure boat wherein a Shogun of a by-gone age had 23 24 25 THE GROLIER CLUB been wont to escape the cares of government in the company of his mistress, the beautiful Asa- zuma. A Shogun was a prime minister who had usurped the secular power of the Emperor but not the Imperial name. Print reproduced, V. I. Catalogue, Vol. II, No. 72. Some of the too heavy oxidization has been removed. Size 11 x 83. HARUNOBU Two young women walking through a storm of snow and rain on their way to a bath house. One carries a towel and a bath robe. Bathing is one of the national passions of the Japanese, and in the late afternoons the streets are filled with people returning from the bathing establishments. Subject reproduced, Morrison Catalogue of Ex- hibition held by Fine Art Society of London, 1910, No. 68; Crewdson Catalogue, No. 31, and, in color, Vol. I, Plate 16, of the Catalogue of Japanese Prints, owned by the Louvre. Signed Suzuki Harunobu. Size 103 x 83. HARUNOBU A young girl on a verandah stands alone, against the black background of night, lighting with her lantern the white blossoms of a plum tree in early bloom. It has been pointed out already that the 24 8 : 3 : \ J fie FABER NT 3 aa Reet, 2 ey Rupe HE 17 KIYOMITSU NO. PLATE VIII " ' - , ' - i * . tf x 26 JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS Japanese are devoted to flowers. When the dif- ferent blooms are at their finest, parties go out by day and night to view them, and the plum is the earliest blossom of the year—the harbinger of Spring. Print reproduced, Kinbei Murata Catalogue of October, 1919, No. 41. Subject reproduced with some variations, V. I. Catalogue, Vol. II, No. 66. Size 123 x 8}. HARUNOBU A girl and a woman shaping, over lacquer forms with dome-shaped tops, floss silk that has been pressed into sheets. The perfection of technique in the cutting of the blocks and in the printing is extraordinary. This and the two following numbers are from a set of “ Eight Indoor Views.” In their first state these eight prints bear the signature of Kiosen, who may have been an amateur engraver and printer, and almost certainly was a patron for whom prints were designed—the moving spirit in an artist’s club or society that issued them. The so-called “second state,” of which three examples are shown, has no signature, and the characteristic yellow or straw color of early Harunobus has been supplanted by stronger tones. In a third state, that frequently bears the signature of Harunobu, the color scheme is still more complicated. 25 27 28 THE GROLIER CLUB The Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Japan Society of New York reproduces in color all three states of one sheet of the set. All eight, in the first state, are reproduced in the Moslé Catalogue and in the second state—like those shown here —in the Harunobu Memorial Catalogue. Size 113 x 8}. HARUNOBU A young woman reading by the light of a portable lamp. From the same set as the last. It has been said that prints in which a good deal of black was used and prints in which the figures were not displayed against a complicated back- ground were apt to be finer than others. This print, which is one of Harunobu’s most charming designs, illustrates the first rule and is a notable exception to the second. The stream, the shore and the maple leaves give exactly what was needed. Subject reproduced as stated above. Size 114 x 83. HARUNOBU A young girl with open fan, followed by her maid, From the same set as Numbers 26 and 27, and of the same state. Subject reproduced as stated above, and also in the V. I. Catalogue, Vol. II. No. 80. Size 114 x 8. 26 MEBRL MAIS, Ghd \ KIYOMITSU NO. 18 PLATE IX AE pre he 5 * ' a 29 30 JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS HARUNOBU Stealing the Blossoms. A young girl has climbed up on the back of her maid to reach a tempting branch of plum-blossoms above a gray wall. In the upper classes long sleeves were the pre- rogative of youth, and from childhood to age they grew steadily shorter. Servants wore short sleeves, as in this print and Number 28; long ones would have interfered with their work. Subject reproduced, V. I. Catalogue, Vol. II, No. 115. Size 102 x 7%. The nine prints by Harunobu that have been catalogued thus far can be dated with consider- able confidence between New Year’s Day of 1765 and the close of 1767. Thesix that follow should probably be ascribed to the final two and a half years of the artist’s life. HARUNOBU Young lovers beside a green bamboo fence. The youth is stooping over to remove a clog of snow from the geta, or patten, of the girl. Above are some verses: Even today snow makes the road well- nigh impassable; if it should storm again tomorrow who could expect him to come? 27 31 THE GROLIER CLUB Print reproduced in color, Transactions of the Grolier Club, Part III. Signed Suzuki Harunobu. Probable date 1768. Size 114 x 83. HARUNOBU A young girl and her maid on a wind-swept beach. The young lady’s companion, perhaps pleading for a rejected lover, points to a rock against which the waves are beating, while above is a well-known classical poem by Minamoto no Shigeyuki, which, with due regard to the implied meaning understood by the Japanese, might be interpreted: My heart is like a wave Broken against the rock of her denial. There is an inference in this poem that, though each wave is broken, in the end the rock itself is worn away. These verses are in the thirty-one-syllable form, for when the Japanese wish to write a long poem and say a great deal they add two lines, of seven syllables each, to the short seventeen-syllable form, referred to under Number 9g; the construc- tion being like that of a sonnet with a distinct break and change of thought in a specified place. ‘Subject reproduced, Harunobu Memorial Cata- logue, No. 90; Frederick May Catalogue, No. 567, and Sotheby Catalogue of January, 1911— An Importer of Japanese Products, No. 60. 28 PLATE X KIYOMITSU NO. I9 7 i 32 a3 JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS Signed Suzuki Harunobu. Probable date 1768. Size 114 x 84. HARUNOBU A young lady who received so many love-letters that she was obliged to have an ox carry them forher. The background of evanescent blue that was in many of Harunobu’s prints is here only partially decomposed. This print is described in the V. I. Catalogue Vol. II, No. 217, and the subject is reproduced in the Kinbei Murata Catalogue of July, 1913. Probable date 1769. Size 102 x 84. (Plate XI). HARUNOBU Young lovers walking under snow-laden willow branches. This is one of Harunobu’s finest designs, an exquisite print in every line from the drooping branches above to the bottom sweep of the moving draperies. The Japanese call it the “Crow and Heron,” probably because the youth is dressed in black, while the girl’s outer kimono is white with patterning in gauffrage. A later— less effective—state shows a black bounding line about the soft snow on top of the umbrella, with changes in the patterns of the textiles. The print exhibited was reproduced in color as the frontispiece of the Catalogue of the Exhi- bition given by the Japan Society of New York in 1911; the state with the black bounding line 29 34 THE GROLIER CLUB and changed patterns may best be compared in the reproduction in the Hayashi Catalogue, p. 110; and there is still a third, badly engraved and with other differences. Signed Suzuki Harunobu. Probable date 1769. Size 114 x 83. and 35 HARUNOBU Pillar prints, representing that pair of star-cros- sed lovers, Shirai Gompachi and Komurasaki, each in komuso attire, and carrying the basket hat and flute. Prints of this shape were made to be hung as decorations on the square wooden pillars of Japanese houses, and having been more fre- quently exposed to the light, are difficult to find in the condition of these. The story of the un- fortunate lovers is too long to be retold here, but those who desire to read a digest of it may be referred to Joly’s “Legend in Japanese Art,” p. 98. : we ~~ See /) 0 ee —— 125 NO. TOYOKUNI PLATE XXVIII # JAPANESE FIGURE PRINTS 123 TOYOKUNI 124 125 Matsumoto Koshir6 as a man of rank. Subject reproduced, Jacquin Catalogue, No. 653. Size 152 x 10%. TOYOKUNI Mica ground. Bando Mitsugoré drawing his sword. Subject reproduced, Kinbei Murata Catalogue of October, 1919, No. 82; and “ Journal of the Ukiyo-ye Society of Japan,’ November, 1922. No. 7. Size 142 x 10. (Plate XXVII). TOYOKUNI The 3rd Segawa Kikunoj6 as a dancer with an open fan in her right hand. (See note on Num- ber 16). Size 144 x 10. (Plate XXVIII). 89 ; eT ae ‘ , A ya cs ee , Ast en oe | hs bP Bi 2 vale : mite. oe bee ¥5* ey id Pees , £4, FM + <4 § ‘ Ae ns ™’ \ . } %, , =) P + ” Fi ‘ a3 a a . of) dye ni aa Jonah Mi a Paras GETTY CENTER LIBRARY A