Gallery 3H: Kasamatsu Shiro — The Christenson Collection of Miniature Japanese Woodblock Prints

Prints by Kasamatsu Shirō (1898-1991)

Untitled image of a Child Feeding Carp. Publisher unknown. 1930s. 11.7 x 17.5 cm

Kasamatsu Shiro (1898- 1991) designed prints in both the Shin-Hanga and Sosaku-Hanga styles. He apprenticed with Kaburagi Kiyokata (1878–1973) who gave him the pseudonym Shiro. Beginning in 1919, Kasamatsu worked for the Tokyo publisher Shōzaburō Watanabe. He worked with Kyoto publisher Unsodo in the 1950s, although some of his miniature prints were still being published by Watanabe as late as the 1960s. He self-published prints in the Sōsaku-Hanga style in the 1950s and 1960s.

*Deer at Nara.* Published by Watanabe Shozoburo. 1930s-1940s. 17.6 x 11.9 cm

*Great Lantern of Asakusa*. 1930s. 8.5 x 13.5 cm

*A Toy Pigeon.* Published by Watanabe. 1930s. 8.6 x 13.5 cm

*Mother and Her Child*. Published by Watanabe. Undated. 8.8 x 14.1 cm

*Playing Shuttlecock.* Undated. Published by Watanabe. 8.4 x 13.4 cm

*Five Story Pagoda in Snow*. Undated. 9.1 x 13.5 cm

*Heavy Snow in a Village*. Undated. 9.5 x 14.4 cm

*Snowy Path at Night*. Undated. 9.3 x 14.3 cm

*Outside a shop*. Undated. 9.5 x 14.4 cm

*Five Story Pagoda in Snow*. Undated. 9.5 x 14.4 cm

*Entrance under falling snow*. Undated. 9.5 x 14.5 cm

*House in Trees.* Undated. 9.4 x 14.2 cm

*Zen Garden Viewed Through a Shoji.* Undated. 9.5 x 14.4.cm

*Pagoda at Night.* Undated. 9.5 x 14.4 cm

*Spring Rain on the Moat*. After a larger oban size image. Unsodo. 1970. 9.0 x 14.0 cm

The print to the left lacks an artist signature or seal. It is a vertically formatted print that appears to be derived from a horizontal design by Kasamatsu Shiro that was initially published by Watanabe. This print was likely published by Takemura Hideo.

The miniatures that follow were either affixed to either small greeting cards or a publisher’s print sample book. The designs are adapted from cross sections of prints in the vertically formatted series Famous Gardens of Tokyo or Eight Views of Tokyo published by Unsodo. It is unclear whether they were produced with the artist’s input. A comparison of one of the miniatures to an original print appears immediately below. The miniature has been enlarged and the original reduced in size to better demonstrate the adaptation which included both vertical cropping and horizontal elongation of the adapted section. (Image of Shinsentei Arbor in Rikugien Garden courtesy of Andreas Grund who first pointed out the origin of these images).

*Shinsentei Arbor in Rikugien Garden*. Undated. 8.9 x 6.2 cm

*Evening Moon at Shinjuku Gyoen Garden*. 8.9 x 6.3 cm

*Hirakawamon Gate*. Undated. 8.9 x 6.2 cm

*Benkeibashi Bridge, Akasaka*. Undated. 8.9 x 6.2 cm

*Inokashira Shrine*. Undated. 8.9 x 5.8 cm

The three prints below are neither sealed nor signed. They were originally attached to small greeting cards. These miniatures resemble designs of larger designs by Shiro Kasamatsu: Kegon Falls, Yomeimon no Yuki (Snow at Yomei Gate in Nikko), and Nikko Shinkyo Bridge. The Kegon Falls print was included in a set of cards with prints bearing the seal of Asano Takeji. However, it would appear that the set represented prints by at least two artists. The other two prints were acquired separately and had already been removed from their cards.

*Snow at Yomei Gate in Nikko*. 6.3 x 8.9 cm

Pochibukuro

Box and set of six envelopes for Souvenir from Enoshima.

*Enoshima After Snowfall.(Enoshima setsugo)*. 6.3 x 15.7 cm

*Enoshima Bridge (Enoshima sanbashi)*. 16.2 x 15.8 cm

*Enoshima Iwaya Cave (Enoshima iwaya)*. 6.2 x 15.7 cm

*Enoshima Okutsu Shrine (Enoshima okutsu miya)* 6.2 x 15.5 cm

These five pochibukuro are from the set Souvenir of Kamakura (Kamakura Miyage) by Kasamatsu Shirō (1898-1991) which was published by Watanabe Hangaten, most likely in the 1930s.