Kobe Scenery by Yuzaburo Kawanishi, 1971, Sōsaku Hanga woodblock print

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Kobe Scenery by Yuzaburo Kawanishi, 1971, Sōsaku Hanga woodblock print

Kobe Scenery, Sunset Over the Port — An Original Sōsaku Hanga Woodblock Print by Yuzaburo Kawanishi (1971)

A vibrant, hand-carved and hand-printed view of Kobe’s harbor at dusk, rendered in the bold, keyline-free style that made the Kawanishi family synonymous with modern Japanese printmaking. The composition sweeps from a blushing sky and green hillside down to the city’s landmark red suspension bridge, the striped Kobe Port Tower, and a passenger ferry crossing the bay — a snapshot of postwar Kobe rebuilt and thriving. The artist’s small red seal is stamped at the lower right of the image.

Yuzaburo Kawanishi (1923–2014) began learning woodblock printmaking at age eight under his father, Hide Kawanishi, one of the founding figures of the sōsaku hanga (“creative print”) movement, which rejected the divided-labor tradition of ukiyo-e in favor of the artist personally designing, carving, and printing each work. Like his father, Yuzaburo worked without a keyblock outline, building his compositions instead from flat, saturated planes of color for maximum visual punch. After winning first prize at the Nihon Hanga Kyōkai exhibition at just nineteen, he became a full member of the association in 1971 — the very year this print was made — and went on to lead the sōsaku hanga movement in the Kansai region following his father’s death in 1965. Kobe, his lifelong home, remained his defining subject throughout a career spanning over a thousand prints; his work is held today in the National Museums of Modern Art in Tokyo and Kyoto and the National Museum of Art, Osaka.

Condition: Presented in its original frame.

Dimensions (frame included): H 41 x W 38 x D 2 cm / H 16.1 x W 15 x D 0.8 in

Signature: Artist’s red seal, lower right

Date: 1971

Origin: Kobe, Japan

Style: Sōsaku Hanga (creative print movement)

Condition: Very good.

Colors may slightly vary due to photographic lighting sources or your monitor settings.

The print will be shipped insured overseas in a custom made wooden case. 
Cost of transport to the US, Euro 225, is case included.

Wear consistent with age and use.

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