About This Print
Titled, Shinjuku Garden 新宿御苑, Kitaoka presents us with one of the many tree-lined promenades in this now public garden that contains over 10,000 trees. This undated artist's proof signed in pencil by Kitaoka, likely dates from 1950 and was released as part of the 1950-1951 five-part portfolio (each portfolio containing five prints), titled The Face of Tokyo 東京の顔.This artist proof appears identical to the print in the collection of The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo pictured below. However, it uses a different paper than the other four prints in this collection, which were originally issued as part of the series 戦後風俗 (Sengo fuuzoku), translated as "Post-war Life and Customs", and then likely printed again for The Face of Tokyo five-part portfolio. The other four prints in this collection use a distinctive mica-impregnated paper.
4. The Shinjuku Imperial Garden
"The Face of Tokyo No. 2" 1950
woodcut on paper, 12.2×15.3 cm
M00107-010 The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
woodcut on paper, 12.2×15.3 cm
M00107-010 The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
The Portfolio The Face of Tokyo
This beautifully designed and, unfortunately, overlooked series portrays post-war Tokyo in the social-realist style that Kitaoka embraced after the war and later rejected, telling Statler "I rebelled against their [Japan's proletarian artists] subjugation of art to politics..."1Five prints in the series, noted in the below list of titles in the portfolio, were printed in color and the remainder were monochrome prints.
For other prints in the Collection from this series see Around Ochanomizu (Kanda River), Playing Bingo, Outside Shinjuku Station, the West Exit and Behind the Stage.
Images of the entire series, titles listed below, are in the collection of The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and can be viewed at the website of the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Art at http://search.artmuseums.go.jp/search_e/sakuhin_list.php?sakka=601
"The Face of Tokyo No.1", 1950
1.The Jimbocho Bookstore District
2.The Kanda River
3.The Unemployment Office in Iidabashi
4.A Night Game of Baceball [sic] (color woodblock)
5.The Nikkatsu Movie Theater in Kanda
"The Face of Tokyo No.2", 1950
1.Playing Bingo
2.Outside Shinjuku Station, the East Exit
3.Shinjuku at Night (color woodblock)
4.Outside Shinjuku Station, the West Exit
5.The Shinjuku Imperial Garden
"The Face of Tokyo No.3", 1950
1.Sukiyabashi Bridge
2.Ginza in Christmas Season
3.Hibiya Park (color woodblock)
4.Strip Show at the Nichigeki Theater
5.Under the Railroad Overpass at Yurakucho
The Face of Tokyo No.4" , 1951
1.City at Rest
2.Ginza at New Year
3.Ginza on a Rainy Day (color woodblock)
4.Behind the Stage
5.Back Street of Ginza at New Year
"The Face of Tokyo No.5" , 1951
1.Inside Ueno Station
2.Step Leading to Ueno Park
3.Shinobazu Pond (color woodblock)
4.The Ameyoko District
5.Ueno Zoo
1 Modern Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn, Oliver Statler, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1956, p.153.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #2020 |
| Title | Shinjuku Gardens 新宿御苑 |
| Series | The Face of Tokyo (No. 2) 東京の顔 |
| Artist | Kitaoka Fumio (1918-2007) |
| Signature |  pencil signed by artist "Fumio Kitaoka" in English below the image |
| Seal | unsealed |
| Publication Date | 1950 |
| Edition | AP (artist's proof) |
| Publisher | self-published |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - minor overall toning with minor foxing seen in margins |
| Genre | sosaku hanga (creative print) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | |
| H x W Paper | 5 3/8 x 6 11/16 in. (13.7 x 17 cm) |
| H x W Image | 4 3/4 x 6 in. (12.1 x 15.2 cm) |
| Collections This Print | The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, M00107-010 |
| Reference Literature |
last revision:
created: 2/15/2019
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