Japanese Woodblock Print, 1930s published by Shima Art Co.

SIZE IN INCHES: oban, 15.5 x 10.5

PROVENANCE: From the Robert O. Muller estate

COMMENTS: A little seen botanical print of a flowering magnolia by Japanese painter and printmaker Ogata Korin published before WWII by the Shima Art Company.

OGATA KORIN (1657-1716), Japanese painter and lacquerer, was born in Kyoto, the son of a wealthy merchant who had a taste for the arts and is said to have given his son some elementary instruction therein. Korin also studied under Soken Yamamoto, the Kano school, Tsunenobu and Gukei Sumiyoshi; and he was greatly influenced by his predecessors Hon'ami Koetsu and Tawaraya Sotatsu. On arriving at maturity, however, he broke away from all tradition, and developed a very original and quite distinctive style of his own, both in painting and in the decoration of lacquer. The characteristic of this is a bold impressionism, which is expressed in few and simple highly idealized forms, with an absolute disregard for both realism and the usual conventions. In lacquer, Korin's use of white metals and of mother-of-pearl is notable; but herein he followed Koyetsu. Korin died at the age of fifty-nine. His chief pupils were Kagei Tatebayashi and Shiko Watanabe, but the present knowledge and appreciation of his work are largely due to the efforts of Sakai Hoitsu, who brought about a revival of Korin's style.

Fine, no flaws