Details

Although known for his bijin-ga, or images of beautiful women, Hashiguchi Goyo is credited with producing outstanding landscapes that are among the genre's best designs, as this work attests. The design showcases a meandering river cutting through a snowing landscape. The riverbanks are lined with pines weighed down with freshly fallen snow. Mt. Ibuki is shown at a distance set against a gray sky populated by falling flakes of snow.

This design was sketched by the artist from a train window during a trip between Tokyo and Kobe. Goyo noted on the original drawing that the sketch was captured at noon though the gray bokashi-laden sky of the design may suggest otherwise. This design is quiet, serene, and contemplative and clearly pays homage to Ukiyo-e artists Hiroshige and Hokusai but advances the baton forward with a stunning work of his own invention.

Connoisseur's Note

This work was self-produced by the artist himself. Although Goyo and Watanabe had previously parted ways, Watanabe distributed the edition of 100 to members of the Edo-e Kanshokai Art Collecting Club. This was the sole edition produced from the original blocks, as they were canceled after the completion of the edition. This impression is numbered 3/100 on the reverse.

The print is in an exceedingly fine state of preservation. The work comes with the original woodblock printed notation by the artist and a hanshita with a handwritten inscription, possibly by the artist. This important set was acquired from the famed Mori Gallery, based in Chicago, by a prominent collector.