Tokaido Yokyo And Narita Dochu: Intermediate Tokaido Stations And Views On The Narita Highway. Complete Set Of Twenty Original Color Prints After The Drawings Made By Hiroshige Hiroshige, Utagawa. With An Introduction By J. S. Happer Japanese Art

Twenty art prints (complete) with descriptive booklet in portfolio as issued. The color prints [26 x 38.5 cm] are mounted on thick card stock [31 x 46 cm], with paper matte frames and tissue guards. The images are bright, sharp, and beautiful. Some age toning and light foxing is revealed when viewing at the (unprinted) edges and margins. The prints show extremely well, look bright and fresh, and reveal with excellent contrasts and subtleties. A few of the prints have very small creases or short closed tears near the corners where they are mounted, never interfering with the printed images and there are no paper losses and none which interfere or come near the printed areas. The tissue guards are all foxed, one is missing, and another is detached. Previous owner's faint neat notations in pencil at the bottom of each tissue guard. Overall, the set of prints is complete and in Very Good condition. The descriptive booklet [31 x 21 cm] is simply side sewn in the Japanese style with turquoise thread. Booklet consists of 15 leaves printed on rectos only [4 pp. in English collated and oriented left to right, 11 pp. in Japanese, likewise, right to left]. The booklet is lightly age toned, bumped at corners, and shows some mellow creasing at the hinge and corners; still Very Good. Portfolio cloth covered boards [31 x 46 cm] are illustrated with a depiction of Mount Fuji and ocean waves. Paper cover label is printed in Japanese and affixed to the front board. Good only; the front and rear boards are rubbed, lightly stained, soiled, and are detached from one another â€" but still present and presentable. A small brochure (perhaps a sales prospectus for this set?) is laid in; it is a single sheet printed on both sides and folded three times like a brochure. This is printed in Japanese in red, blue, and black ink, with four black and white images depicting four of the images from the portfolio. "This album of hitherto unpublished prints by the great Ukiyo-ye artist Hiroshige, is absolutely unique in that it is a combination of ancient and modern art and technique. It has recently come to the attention of the firm of Sakai that the noted collector, Mr. Takahata Kazuwo of Yokohama, possessed some original drawings for the block made by Hiroshige which for some unknown reason were never used and were in the original condition as prepared for the engraver connected with the publisher Ho-yei-do, or Take-uchi. [.]" Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) was one of the last acknowledged masters of traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e art (woodblock image making and printing). He predominantly lived and worked in Edo (modern Tokyo). Along with Katsushika Hokusai, Hiroshige is perhaps the most well known and recognizable Japanese artist in the western world. Hiroshige's images would go on to have a heavy influence on 20th century European art, especially upon the work of French Impressionists such as Monet and Manet, as well as the Dutch master Van Gogh â€" each of whom closely studied, trained, and practiced their craft by following Hiroshige's compositions and techniques closely. The twenty Hiroshige prints depict the following twenty scenes along the Tokaido Stations and the Narita Highway, as noted in the booklet included: Tokaido: No. 1 - Takanawa. No. 2 - Tsurumi. No. 3 - Sugita Plum Blossoms. No. 4 - Kanazawa, Ichiranazan. No. 5 - Nokendo. No. 6 - Suzume-ga-ura. No. 7 - Sakai-gi. No. 8 - Kamakura, Tsuru-ga-oka. No. 9 - Yui-ga-hama. No. 10 - Soshu Enoshima. No. 11 - Kagetori. No. 12 - Yotsuya Oiwake. No. 13 - Tamura Ferry. No. 14 - Koyasu. No. 15 - Oyama Waterfall. No. 16 - Oyama Temple. Narita Highway: No. 17 - Gyotoku. No. 18 - Tonegawa Pine Grove. No. 19 - Koganehara. No. 20 - Imbanuma.