Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) (artist 05/18/1883 – 11/07/1957)
A Doll (O-Ningyō) from the series Twelve subjects of children (Kodomo jūnidai, goningyō - 子供十二題: 御人形)
04/1931
10.3 in x 15.3 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print
Signed: Hasui
Seal: Kawase
Title and date in the left margin: Shōwa Roku Nen Shi
'Made in the 4th Month of the 6th Year of Shōwa [April 1931]'
In the right margin is the publisher's stamp of Watanabe Shōzaburō.
Chazen Museum of Art
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo - black and white illustration
Art Institute of Chicago - another print from this series
Virginia Museum of Fine Art Aside from the title of the series saying that there are 12 images we only know of two. Perhaps this ambitious series, unusual fare among Hasui's ouevre, was never fully realized. Perhaps the people that purchased his much sought after landscapes were not interested in this subject.
The young girl has been identified as Takagi Junko as cited in catalogue entry #248 in Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints by Kendall H. Brown and others. Illustrated in color in vol. 2. Junko is the model in both known examples from this series.
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Child with doll. According to the Toledo Museum of Art catalogue, Modern Japanese Prints, it took 20 blocks to create this image. There were 25 superimposed printings. The edition size was 100.
This print comes from the series Twelve Subjects of Children ('Kodomo jūnidai goningyō').
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Also illustrated in a small black and white reproduction in The Edward Burr van Vleck Collection of Japanese Prints, p. 27.
modern prints (shin hanga - 新版画) (genre)
Watanabe Mokuhan Bujitsu Gahō (渡邊木版美術画舗) (publisher)
Shōwa era (昭和時代) (genre)