| Bibliography (courtesy of Hanga.com) Shinsui was born with the name of Ito Hajime to a middle-class Tokyo family. As a child, he attended school and apparently did not show a special interest in art. His fortune changed after an unwise investment bankrupted his father's business. At the age of ten, young Hajime was forced to leave school and find work. He found employment at the Tokyo Printing Company where he began to show serious interest and talent in Nihonga, Japanese-style painting. In 1911, Hajime was given an apprenticeship in the drawing department of the Printing Company. Soon afterwards he was introduced to Kaburagi Kiyokata, the renowned painter, and became Kiyokata's student. It was Kiyokata that gave Hajime his artist's name, Shinsui. The character shin was an alternate reading of the character fuka from Fukagawa, the district in Tokyo where Hajime was born. The character sui was derived from the kiyo character in Kiyokata's own name. During this time, Shinsui's studies were extremely difficult since he worked during the day and also attended night school. He was immersed in art and, despite the lack of sleep, was quite passionate about his studies. It was not long before his paintings were included in public exhibitions. In 1912 his painting was first shown by the Tatsumi gakai ('Southeast Painting Society') and later works were displayed by the Kyodokai ('Homeland Society'), the Nihon bijutsuin ('Japan art institute'), and in the government sponsored Bunten show. When Shinsui was eighteen years old, his paintings were seen by the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo at an exhibition at Kiyokata's art school. Watanabe was especially interested in creating a woodblock print from Shinsui's painting Taikyo ('Before the mirror'). He obtained an introduction with Shinsui's teacher Kiyokata and asked for his permission to attempt this experimental print. Permission was granted. Shinsui's first print, 'Before the Mirror', depicts a young woman wearing a deep red kimono under-robe looking off into an unseen mirror. Instead of using the harsh aniline red so common in Meiji-era prints, Watanabe decided to use a natural vegetable dye to print the red garment. It was necessary to print the robe several times to achieve a rich crimson color. Special care was also taken printing the background, a speckled gray texture that contrasted with the deep expanses of red garment, black hair, and ivory skin. The final effect was simple and spectacular. Watanabe was completely satisfied and began selling the print, even though it was marked as experimental. Shinsui continued to work with Watanabe from 1916 to 1960, designing both bijin-ga and landscape prints. He also worked with the publishers Isetatsu, the Yomiuri Newspaper Company, and Katsumura. In the later years of his life, he concentrated on painting. He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun in 1970. The '100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos' Series. This is a rare pre-war (circa 1931) series of gorgeous 'bijin' (beauties) wearing Takasago-dyed kimonos, by Ito Shinsui. Takasago dyeing is a special fabric dyeing process developed in Japan that dates to the 1600s. Prints from this series are machine printed or possibly lithographic items, and they are the finest examples of pre-war machine printing I've seen to date. According to a seal in the lower margin of each print they were printed using a patented 'KI Banton' platemaking process, so probably an advanced technique for that era. Each scene is printed on washi paper (contains the usual chain lines) and without close inspection it is difficult to determine that these are not woodblock prints. Interestingly, it would appear that none of these scenes are copied from Shinsui's other works (woodblocks or paintings), so I assume that Shinsui composed these especially for this series. Each print is untitled, so where possible I've taken titles from similar woodblock print examples of Shinsui works.
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| Bijin-Ga, Landscape Prints, and Books | |||||||||||||||||||
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: A Worried Look Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Applying Lipstick Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Applying Makeup Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Autumn Full Moon Date: 1931 August
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Beauty From the Showa Era - Early Spring Date: March 15, 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Bijin and Umbrella Date: 1900s-1920s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Bijin at the Beach Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Bijin by a River Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Bijin Playing a Shamisen Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Bijin Playing Karuta Date: 1920s/30s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Bijin with Flower Ornament Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Deep In Thought Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Firefly Date: 1920s/30s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Hanging a Mosquito Net Series: First Series of Modern Beauties Date: 1929 May
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Maiko Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Mother and Child Date: 1900s-1920s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Mother and Child Date: 1900s-1920s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Rain Expected Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Reading a Letter Series: The Loyal Ronin Date: 1921
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Shuttlecock Date: 1920s/30s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Sketch of a Bijin Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Sleeping Beauty Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Snow Series: Snow Moon Flower Date: 1935, January
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Snow Storm Date: 1930s/40s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Spring Bijin Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Spring Bijin with Flower Ornament Date: 1910s/20s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Three Thousand Years Date: 1930s
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Volume 5 - Ito Shinsui Series: Complete Works of Modern Japanese Bijin (Deluxe Edition) Date: 1977
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: Volume 5 - Ito Shinsui Series: Complete Works of Modern Japanese Bijin Date: 1979 |
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| 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos | |||||||||||||||||||
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 0 - Grace Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 1- Hanging Up A Lantern Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 1- Hanging Up A Lantern Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 10- Summer Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 10- Summer Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 11- Behind The Screen Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 11- Behind The Screen Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 11- Behind The Screen Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 13- Summer Fan Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 13- Summer Fan Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 14- Summer Night Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 14- Summer Night Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 16- Fireworks Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 16- Fireworks Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 16- Fireworks Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 17- Summer Flowers Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 17- Summer Flowers Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 18- Bijin in Yukata with Fan Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 18- Bijin in Yukata with Fan Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 18- Bijin in Yukata with Fan Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 19- Contemplation Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 19- Contemplation Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 20 Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 20 Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 3- Fireflies Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 4- Fireworks Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 4- Fireworks Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 6- Hanging a Mosquito Net Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 6- Hanging a Mosquito Net Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 6- Hanging a Mosquito Net Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 7- Flowers Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 7- Flowers Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931
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Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 9-Tanabata Festival Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931 |
Artist: Shinsui, Ito (1898-1972) Title: No. 9-Tanabata Festival Series: 100 Figures of Beauties Wearing Takasago Kimonos Date: c. 1931 |
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