Comprehensive information about the series and this print hereFrom 大近松全集 - Dai Chikamatsu Zenshu - The Chinese Princess Kinshojo 錦祥女 from the play Kokusen-ya Kassen. Signature: Suisho, from the series Woodblock Print Supplements to the Complete Works of Chikamatsu, 1923, 18 prints.
The print series Supplements of the Complete Works of Chikamatsu was published around 1922-1923 and consists of 18 prints. Each print was designed by a different and well-established artist of the time. And each design represents a character from one of the play's written by Chikamatsu.
Subject: The Chinese Princess Kinshojo 錦祥女 from the play Kokusen-ya Kassen, by Nishiyama Suishō 西山翠嶂 (1879-1958)
The Chinese heroine of the play, "Kokusenya Kassen", spills blood from the balcony. Her costume is beautifully decorated with gold and silver colored metallic pigments. One of the underrated print of this series. Delicate embossings, gold and silver colored metallic pigments, gofun, silver mica. All prints from this series printed on a light tan-colored paper.
Carver: 山岸主計 Yamagishi Kazue.
Printer: 西村熊吉 Nishimura Kumakichi
image: 15 1/8 x 11 3/6 in. (25.1 x 34.6 cm)
image measurement includes gray border
sheet: 18 x 11 1/2 in. (45.7 x 29.2 cm)
Nishiyama Suishō 西山翠嶂 (1879-1958)
Sources: Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p. 110; A Dictionary of Japanese Artists: Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints, Lacquer, Laurance P. Roberts, Weatherhill, 1976, p. 120.
Nishiyama Suishō was born and worked in Kyoto. His given name was Usaburō. He studied with Takeuchi Seihō (1864-1942), a leading Kyoto painter, and in 1915 he married one of Takeuchi's daughter. He graduated in 1899 from Kyoto City School of Arts and Crafts and and became head of Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting. Along with Kikuchi Keigetsu (1879-1955), he became one of the important figures in the Kyoto art world. He exhibited in the government sponsored Teiten, Bunten, and Inten and was a member of the Imperial Art Academy and Imperial Household Art Committee. In 1957 he received the Order of Cultural Merit.
Roberts notes that Nishiyama is "[a]n interesting colorist whose works contrast flat areas or color with careful attention to details and some hint of of Western modelling" and that his work "displays a strong Shijō influence."
Primarily known as a painter, Nishiyama produced very few woodblock prints. His prints are extremely valuable and sought on by collectors.
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