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Lot Essay
published:
Azabu Museum of Art, ed., Azabu bijutsukan: Shuzohin zuroku (Azabu Museum of Art: Catalogue of the collection) (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art, 1986), pls. 17--1, 17--2.
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 73.
Dai Hokusai ten: Edo ga unda sekai no eshi (Great Hokusai exhibition: A world artist born of Edo), edited by Asahi Shimbun, Tobu Museum of Art, Otsu City Museum of History, Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagata Seiji, editor-in-chief, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1993), pl. 3.
Katsushika Hokusai ten (Katsushika Hokusai exhibition), edited by Sansai Shinsha, exh. cat. (Tokyo: [Sansai Shinsha], 1985), pl. 495.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pls. 54--1, 54--2, 55.
Nagata Seiji, ed., Monogatari-e (Narrative painting), vol. 5 of Hokusai bijutsukan, 2nd ed. (Tokyo: Shueisha, 1994), pls. 90, 91.
Nakamura Hideki. Hokusai mangekyo: Porifueniiteki shutai e/Gazing at Hokusai's Constellation: Toward polyphonic vision (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1990), p. 259.
Nakau Ei, ed., Ukiyo-e hyakunin hyakushu (Ukiyo-e--one hundred people, one hundred minds) (Tokyo: Sojusha Bijutsu Shuppan, 1984), p. 139.
Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meisaku ten: Saki kaoru Edo no joseibi (Exhibition of masterpieces of ukiyo-e painting: The blooming and fragrant beauty of Edo women), edited by Narazaki Muneshige, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 1984), pl. 34.
Okamoto Hiromi, "Variations on the Theme of 'Two Courtesans': Bijin Paintings by Hokusai and his Pupils," in Hokusai Paintings: Selected Essays, edited by Gian Carlo Calza, with the assistance of John T. Carpenter (Venice: The International Hokusai Research Centre, University of Venice, 1994), pl. 6--3.
Shibui Kiyoshi, ed., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e bijinga shusei/Ukiyo-e Paintings of Beauties in Japanese Collections, vol. 2 (Tokyo: Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1983), pl. 2.
Tokubetsu ten Hokusai (Special exhibition of Hokusai), edited by the Yamato Bunkakan, exh. cat. (Nara: Yamato Bunkakan, 1987), no. 1.
Tokubetsu ten Hokusai: Fukutsu no gajin damashii (Special exhibition of Hokusai: The indomitable painter's spirit), exh. cat. (Nagoya: Nagoya City Museum and Chunichi Shimbunsha, 1991), pl. 193.
Gyokushi (Taichen Wang Furen in Chinese) is a Daoist immortal in Chinese court robes and a gold filigree tiara. A dragon carries her one-stringed qin through ink-black rain clouds. The Uzo ressen zenden (Illustrated legends of Chinese immortals) of 1650 includes the following description: "Taishin O Fujin, also known as Gyokushi, is the daughter of Seiobo. Whenever she plays her one-stringed qin, a hundred birds flock to her. On occasion, she mounts a white dragon to traverse the four seas." Seibo (Xiwangmu in Chinese) was revered in China and Japan as the Queen Mother of the West, a goddess who could insure immortality and grant earthly desires.
The long, oval face and delicate features of the immortal are characteristic of Hokusai's so-called Sori style of the late 1790s through the early years of the 19th century.
The paintings are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, now mounted as a hanging scroll, by Hayashi Tadamasa (1853-1906), a prominent dealer and art critic living in Paris who was instrumental in introducing ukiyo-e to the west. He comments on signature styles during a critical transition in Hokusai's career:
Painted in the spring of Kansei 10 (1798), when Hokusai
was age 38. Before this, most of his works were signed
simply "Sori." Around this time, he bequeathed the art
name "Tawaraya Sori" to a person named Soji. In 1800 he
signed his works "Saki no Sori Hokusai" (Hokusai, formerly
Sori), or, as he had in 1799, "Sori aratame Hokusai" (Sori,
now known as Hokusai). Beginning in the spring of 1801, he
used the signature "Gakyojin Hokusai" (Man Mad about Painting).
Certified by Hayashi Tadamasa, April 11, 1890.
The signature closely resembles that on Streetwalker (Yotaka zu) in the Hosomi Museum, Kyoto and Auspicious turtle (Zuiki) in the Nara Prefectural Museum. Until recently the paintings were mounted as a two-panel folding screen. For another painting of this subject by Hokusai see Kobayashi Tadashi, op. cit., p. 227.
This is the only recorded example of the Shizoka seal on a painting. An impression of what appears to be the same seal is found on a surimono celebrating Hokusai's name change from Sori to Hokusai Tokimasa. Presumably he this seal for only a short time when he was establishing a new artistic identity.
Azabu Museum of Art, ed., Azabu bijutsukan: Shuzohin zuroku (Azabu Museum of Art: Catalogue of the collection) (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art, 1986), pls. 17--1, 17--2.
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 73.
Dai Hokusai ten: Edo ga unda sekai no eshi (Great Hokusai exhibition: A world artist born of Edo), edited by Asahi Shimbun, Tobu Museum of Art, Otsu City Museum of History, Yamaguchi Prefectural Museum of Art, Nagata Seiji, editor-in-chief, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1993), pl. 3.
Katsushika Hokusai ten (Katsushika Hokusai exhibition), edited by Sansai Shinsha, exh. cat. (Tokyo: [Sansai Shinsha], 1985), pl. 495.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pls. 54--1, 54--2, 55.
Nagata Seiji, ed., Monogatari-e (Narrative painting), vol. 5 of Hokusai bijutsukan, 2nd ed. (Tokyo: Shueisha, 1994), pls. 90, 91.
Nakamura Hideki. Hokusai mangekyo: Porifueniiteki shutai e/Gazing at Hokusai's Constellation: Toward polyphonic vision (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1990), p. 259.
Nakau Ei, ed., Ukiyo-e hyakunin hyakushu (Ukiyo-e--one hundred people, one hundred minds) (Tokyo: Sojusha Bijutsu Shuppan, 1984), p. 139.
Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meisaku ten: Saki kaoru Edo no joseibi (Exhibition of masterpieces of ukiyo-e painting: The blooming and fragrant beauty of Edo women), edited by Narazaki Muneshige, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 1984), pl. 34.
Okamoto Hiromi, "Variations on the Theme of 'Two Courtesans': Bijin Paintings by Hokusai and his Pupils," in Hokusai Paintings: Selected Essays, edited by Gian Carlo Calza, with the assistance of John T. Carpenter (Venice: The International Hokusai Research Centre, University of Venice, 1994), pl. 6--3.
Shibui Kiyoshi, ed., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e bijinga shusei/Ukiyo-e Paintings of Beauties in Japanese Collections, vol. 2 (Tokyo: Mainichi Shimbunsha, 1983), pl. 2.
Tokubetsu ten Hokusai (Special exhibition of Hokusai), edited by the Yamato Bunkakan, exh. cat. (Nara: Yamato Bunkakan, 1987), no. 1.
Tokubetsu ten Hokusai: Fukutsu no gajin damashii (Special exhibition of Hokusai: The indomitable painter's spirit), exh. cat. (Nagoya: Nagoya City Museum and Chunichi Shimbunsha, 1991), pl. 193.
Gyokushi (Taichen Wang Furen in Chinese) is a Daoist immortal in Chinese court robes and a gold filigree tiara. A dragon carries her one-stringed qin through ink-black rain clouds. The Uzo ressen zenden (Illustrated legends of Chinese immortals) of 1650 includes the following description: "Taishin O Fujin, also known as Gyokushi, is the daughter of Seiobo. Whenever she plays her one-stringed qin, a hundred birds flock to her. On occasion, she mounts a white dragon to traverse the four seas." Seibo (Xiwangmu in Chinese) was revered in China and Japan as the Queen Mother of the West, a goddess who could insure immortality and grant earthly desires.
The long, oval face and delicate features of the immortal are characteristic of Hokusai's so-called Sori style of the late 1790s through the early years of the 19th century.
The paintings are accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, now mounted as a hanging scroll, by Hayashi Tadamasa (1853-1906), a prominent dealer and art critic living in Paris who was instrumental in introducing ukiyo-e to the west. He comments on signature styles during a critical transition in Hokusai's career:
Painted in the spring of Kansei 10 (1798), when Hokusai
was age 38. Before this, most of his works were signed
simply "Sori." Around this time, he bequeathed the art
name "Tawaraya Sori" to a person named Soji. In 1800 he
signed his works "Saki no Sori Hokusai" (Hokusai, formerly
Sori), or, as he had in 1799, "Sori aratame Hokusai" (Sori,
now known as Hokusai). Beginning in the spring of 1801, he
used the signature "Gakyojin Hokusai" (Man Mad about Painting).
Certified by Hayashi Tadamasa, April 11, 1890.
The signature closely resembles that on Streetwalker (Yotaka zu) in the Hosomi Museum, Kyoto and Auspicious turtle (Zuiki) in the Nara Prefectural Museum. Until recently the paintings were mounted as a two-panel folding screen. For another painting of this subject by Hokusai see Kobayashi Tadashi, op. cit., p. 227.
This is the only recorded example of the Shizoka seal on a painting. An impression of what appears to be the same seal is found on a surimono celebrating Hokusai's name change from Sori to Hokusai Tokimasa. Presumably he this seal for only a short time when he was establishing a new artistic identity.