PARIS.- For TEFAF 2013, the
Tanakaya Gallery will exhibit the entire series by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) Fuji Sanjūrokkei – 36 Views of Mount Fuji. It is the last series by this artist, one of the most important for landscape prints in Japan; the drawings were given to the publisher in April 1858, and Hiroshige died in October. It will be the first time that this series, in full, will be exhibited in an European antique fair. The prints are in very fine condition, with very good colors.
One of these prints, the n° 23 “Suruga Satta Kaijo” (The sea at satta, in Suruga Province) is one of the best prints by Hiroshige.
As it is well-known, the Japanese artists, as Hiroshige, influenced Western artists during the second half of the 19th century. Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Toulouse-Lautrec, had Japanese prints. The Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, will exhibit at Tefaf 2013 some drawings by this artist, so it is interesting to present Japanese prints by Hiroshige, one of the artists collected by Van Gogh.
The gallery Tanakaya will exhibit some European works by artists influenced by Japanese paintings and prints. For example, “Divan Japonais” lithograph printed in four colors, by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901). This lithograph has a very fine impression and colors, it is rare in this condition. The gallery will exhibit works on paper by Henri Rivičre, Jean Van den Eeckhoudt, Georges Lemmen etc…
The gallery has also selected very fine 20th century Japanese prints (Shin – Hanga : New Wave Prints) by the most prestigious names of this time :
• a print by Hashiguchi Goyō (1888 – 1921) : “Natsui no Onna” (Woman in a summer kimono), woodblock print; 44 x 27,5 cm; signed “Goyō ga”; dated “Taisho 9” (june 1920); private publishing by the artist in Tokyo.
• very rare landscape prints by Kawase Hasui (1883 – 1957), as “Azabu Ninohashi no Gogo” (Afternoon at the Nino Bridge at Azabu, Tokyo); woodblock print; 28,4 x 28,4 cm; signed “Hasui”, with the pre-earthquake diamond-shaped “Kawase” seal; publisher: Watanabe Shōzaburō.
