Pair Japanese Woodblock, Matted, Custom Ebony Frames

Pair of 19th century Japanese woodblocks by Utagawa Kuniyoshi in custom frames. Each set in a custom matted ebony and gilt decorated custom frame finely matter. The pair signed and dated on reversed. -Three Courtman drinking sake and admiring the full moon, 1788-1861 -A lady admiring the chrysanthemum flower 1785-1864. Utagawa Kuniyoshi 1798 - 1861 The vogue for full-body tattoos of interlaced characters, animals and fish, the full arms and backs that writhe with complex figures and designs can be directly traced not only in their drawing but in their conception to the Japanese woodblock artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi. It was he, whilst trying to establish a flagging career in the 1820’s in Edo (Tokyo) Japan, that conceived of decorating heroic, supernatural warriors with florid designs to emphasise their toughness and in some part to elaborate on their narrative. Kuniyoshi was born Yoshisaburo and like Kunisada was apprenticed to the great woodblock artist Toyokuni I at his Utagawa School 1811. Kuniyoshi showed prodigious talent but unlike his colleague Kunisada failed to find commissions and it was not until the late1820’s that he discovered his own style and overnight success with the release of his series of warrior prints...

Large poodles silhouettes each in a custom matted frame by the Barbara Berry Collection. These large and impressive decorative works are certain to fill ...

Pair of Italian engravings signed Gio Ma Calsini each in a gilt gold frame under glass.

La Mode Illustree, French fashion magazine published in the 1800s, print La Mode Illustrée, was a French fashion magazine, published between 1860 ...

This Meiji-period color woodblock by Toyohara Chikanobu (1838-1912) depicts three elegant female courtiers in traditional dress taking refreshments. Th...

Faces (4 Faces), 1969 Tomio Kinoshita (1923-2014), Japan Woodblock print Paper, pigment, sumi ink Image: 27 high by 18.25 inches wide (68.5 by 46.4 cm) Paper size: 28 high by 19...

Tomio Kinoshita (1923 - 2014) Masks (No. 4), 1981 Woodblock print Image Size: 22 high by 31 inches wide (56 by 79 cm) Paper Size: 22.75 high by 31.5 inches wide (57.8 by 80 cm) ...

Tomio Kinoshita (1923 – 2014) Big Boys, 1960 Woodblock print Image size: 32.75 high by 22 inches wide (83 by 56 cm) Paper size: 35.5 high by 23.75 inches wide (90 by 60.3 cm) Signed: in pencil lower right, Tomio Kinoshita Titled: in pencil at lower left Edition: 30/50 Condition: Very good The woodblock for this large print was carved in 1958, just three years after Kinoshita’s began creating woodblocks. This print was signed and dated in 1960, but not numbered; prints were also pulled from this block in the 1970s, so it must have been one of more popular images. One of his students has written, “As time progressed further, the postwar era saw improvements in nutrition, and children became taller and heavier than in the past, but their lack of physical exercise and severely inferior physical abilities became a social problem; this is ironically depicted in Big Boys.” In 1963, Kinoshita told him that he had just finished pulling a print of this image in response to a request from Unichi Hiratsuka...