A striking and colorful image set against a soft pink background, this rare, pre-war image published by H.Takemura (produced prints of exceptional technical quality, ceased business in 1939) is eye-catching and charming. Exceptional detail work in the feathers of the bird and extending into the branches and flowers, there is another version of this print set against a black backdrop as shown. Very rarely seen.
The Woodblock Print
This oban-sized woodblock is in very fine condition; lovely color, full margins and a clean verso. Minor toning in the margins, slight discoloration line at the lower edge of the image.
About the Artist
There is little biographical data available about the Japanese printmaker Hodo Nishimura (西村蒲堂). It is not currently know when or where he was born and when he died away. He is generally believed to have been an in-house artist for the publisher Takemura Hideo in Yokahama from around 1930 until the business shut down in 1941. He is known to have signed his watercolors and some of his woodcuts as “Saito Hodo” or “H. Saito”.
The majority of the work attributed to him was created in the late 1930s using traditional woodblock technique. His work was collected by the famous Japanese print collector Robert Muller.
