About This Print
Like a number of other sōsaku-hanga artists (see Ex Libris, Various by Maekawa Senpan (1888-1960)), Kawakami created numerous bookplates for collectors. In this ex libris 蔵書票 created for the collector S. Kagayama, we see five Nanban gentlemen seated around a table eating and drinking, as they're being waited upon. Kawakami was fascinated by Nanban (southern barbarians, i.e., Portuguese) culture, producing many woodblock prints on the subject.
Ex Libris and the Sōsaku Hanga Movement
Source: Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints - The Early Years, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1998, p. 272.
Early in the sōsaku-hanga movement both bookplates and New Year cards became popular. These required small designs and appealed to those who did not feel competent to handle large blocks. They were, however, also produced by major artists.
...[T]he modern enthusiasm for bookplates is traceable to Europe, as indicated by the Japanese use of the Latin term "ex libris." The European revival of bookplates [in the late 19th century] spread to Japan through an article by Emil Orlik in Myōjō in 1900 during his stay in Japan.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #2024 |
| Title | untitled |
| Series | n/a |
| Artist | Sumio Kawakami 川上澄生 (1895-1972) |
| Signature | not signed |
| Seal | not sealed |
| Publication Date | not dated, but similar works dated to c. 1950s |
| Edition | unknown |
| Publisher | commissioned by the collector |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | excellent |
| Genre | sosaku hanga (creative print) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | |
| H x W Paper | 3 9/16 x 3 in. (9 x 7.6 cm) |
| H x W Image | 2 15/16 x 2 1/4 in. (7.5 x 5.7 cm) |
| Collections This Print | |
| Reference Literature |
created 2/15/2019
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