Sakai Kawaguchi (酒井川口) (publisher 1929 – 1931)

Kawaguchi Jirō (co-owner)
Sakai Shōkichi (co-owner)

Links

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - 1929 Hasui by this publisher, no seal shown

Biography:

Tokyo publisher (Marks 438) on modern 20th century prints. Among the artists published by this house were Kotondo, Inuzuka, Hasui, Komon Sōseki, Koson and Kōitsu. It should also be noted that Kotondo never published with Watanabe.

[Kotondo is the only artist in the Lyon Collection who has been published by this house. His name is highlighted in bold type.]

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Andreas Marks wrote: "Joint publishing company by Sakai and Kawaguchi that was continued by Kawaguchi alone in 1831 [sic - actually 1931] under the name Kawaguchiya Bijutsusha."

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"Japanese print publishers were also seeking American buyers through circuit exhibitions. Most active was exporter Kawaguchi Jirō (about 1900-?), who, in 1929, partnered with publisher Sakai Shōkichi (1878-1942) to form Kawaguchi and Sakai. Kawaguchi quickly set about getting a stable of artists - including Hasui and Shōson, who had defected from Watanabe - and exhibiting them in North America."

Later the entry says: "An advertisement for Macy's in New York offered "Unusually Lovely Gifts, Woodblock Prints by Famous Modern Japanese Artists. Sold through the store's "Department of Far Eastern Art," Kawaguchi and Sakai prints by Hasui, Taisui, Soseki, Shōson, and Ishiwata Koitsu (1897-?) were priced from $1.93 to $5.74"

Quoted from: The Women of Shin Hanga: The Judith and Joseph Barker Collection of Japanese Prints, edited by Allen Hockley, Hood Museum of Art, p. 49.

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