Background
Kawanishi Hide (川西英), 1894-1965, whose given name was Hideo, was born and worked in Kobe, an international port city that inspired much of his subject matter. He was employed as a postmaster, but his ancestors were merchants, particularly traders in several alcoholic spirits, sake (酒 or nihonshu 日本酒), mirin (味醂), and shôchû (焼酎), which they transported to Tokyo in their fleet of ships. Kawanishi's family opposed his becoming involved in painting and printmaking. A self-taught artist, Kawanishi started painting in oils, but turned to woodblock printmaking after seeing a print by Yamamoto Kanae (A small bay in Brittany) displayed in a shop window in Osaka. He was not interested in ukiyo-e, although Nagasaki-e naturally fascinated him, with its exotic ships and foreign traders. Gradually abandoning oils, Kawanishi fell under the influence of the Art Deco poster style of the 1920s and first exhibited prints in 1923 with the Nihon Sôsaku Hanga Kyôkai (Japan Creative Print Association 日本創作版画協会 founded 1918). Other influences were Takehisa Yumeji (竹久夢二), Onchi Kôshirô (恩地孝四郎), Yamamoto Kanae (山本鼎), and European artists such as Lautrec, Gaugin, Van Gogh, Leger, and Matisse.
Kawanishi used poster colors and sumi (Japanese carbon black, i.e., soot, water, and glue), cutting his blocks with a curved chisel to obtain soft edges. He used katsura or ho wood, and printed on hodomura paper. He produced a large number of single-sheet designs (possibly as many as 1,000), as well as printed albums and books, and sets or series. The latter included Shôwa bijin fûzoku jûnitai (Twelve customs of beauties from the Shôwa era), 1929; Kobe jûnigagetsu fûkei (Scenes of Kobe during the twelve months), 1931; and Hanga Kobe hyakkei (Prints of one hundred views of Kobe), 1935. Kawanishi was awarded the Hyôgo Prefecture Culture Prize (1949) and the Kobe Shinbun Peace Prize (1962). His son Kawanishi Yûzaburô (1923-2014) worked in his father's style, but with more international subjects.
For more about this artist, see Kawanishi Biography.
Design
Dansu horû (Dance hall: ダンス・ホール) is design no. 29 from Kawanishi's series Kôbe hyakkei (One hundred scenes of Kobe: 神戸百景). The series was prompted by two occurrences. First, from 1929 to 1932, there was the publication of the series Shin Tokyo hyakkei (One hundred views of new Tokyo: 新東京百景) involving eight different artists, which served as an inspirational model for a contemporary remake of the 100-views theme already familiar in the ukiyo-e tradition. In particular, Kawanishi liked the 12 scenes by Kawakami Sumio (川上澄生 also 川上澄夫 1895-1972) from that series, although Kawakami did use keyblock lines. Kawanishi, in fact, owned an impression of Kawakami's Marunouchi kumoribi (A cloudy day in Marunouchi: 丸の内曇日). Second, a new minato no matsuri ("port festival": みなとの祭) was held in Kobe in 1933, which suggested to Kawanishi an occasion to begin celebrating his home town in a print series. In 1933, Kawanishi designed the first print, finishing all 100 designs by 1936 — a significant effort given that he both carved the blocks and printed the initial impressions. Incidentally, the second design in the series depicts a parade during the port festival.
Dansu horû is one of the liveliest of all 100 views, a scene that celebrates Kobe nightlife of the 1930s. It was a subject that the artist returned to several times before the Pacific War. All the dancers wear Western-style clothes, and the music was presumably Western as well (note the trumpets held aloft by three of the musicians). A partly visible sign at the top left reads "Orchestra" in English. The scene depicts the lingering influence of Japan's equivalent of the American flappers and German neue Frauen of the 1920s, in particular, the lifestyles adopted by Japan's modan garu or moga (modern girls: モダンガール), so named in Tanizaki Jun'ichirô's (谷崎潤一郎) 1924 novel Naomi (actually 痴人の愛, Chijin no Ai, "A Fool's Love").
Our impression comes with the original presentation folder, which has brushed-in text reading, "Submitted to the second Nihon Hanga Kyôkai," referring to the annual print exhibitions held by the Japan Print Association (日本版画協会), which was formed in 1931. It is the largest association of print artists in Japan and continues to hold annual exhibitions. Unquestionably, this self-printed impression, along with the inscribed original folder, will interest collectors of Kawanishi's prints, or for that matter, sôsaku hanga (creative prints: 創作版画) by the leading figures in the movement.
References:
- D'Orlando, A., de Vries, M, Uhlenbeck, C. and Wessels, E.: Nostalgia and Modernity: The Styles of Komura Settai and Kawanishi Hide. Amsterdam: Nihon no Hanga, spring 2012 (exhibition cat.).
- Kawanishi Hide, Gashû "Kôbe hyakkei" Kawanishi Hide ga aishita fûkei (Collected pictures, "100 Scenes of Kobe," favorite scenes of Kawanishi Hide: 画集『神戸百景』川西英が愛した風景), 2008.
- Kobe City Koiso Memorial Museum of Art: (Kawanishi Hide, the retrospective. 120th anniversary of his birth (Kobe shiritsu Koiso kinen bijutsukan (神戸市立小磯記念美術館), Kawanishi hide kaiko ten — Seitan ichihyakunijû nen (川西回顧展 生誕120年). Kobe: 2014, no. 63-14.
- Uhlenbeck, C., Newland, A.R., de Vries, M.: Waves of renewal: modern Japanese prints, 1900 to 1960, Selections from the Nihon no hanga collections, Amsterdam. Hotei Publishing, 2016, pp. 240-246.
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