Takeuchi Seih? ????, artist — Shina F?K? Zu-E ??????

1936. [Print Album] Takeuchi Seih? ????, artist Shina F?k? Zu-e ?????? Kyoto: Otsuka Kogeisha ????? Showa 11 [1936] [Print Album] Takeuchi Seih? ????. Shina F?k? Zu-e ??????. Kyoto, Otsuka Kogeisha ?????, Showa 11 [1936]; #32 of 150cc. Large gold cloth brocade portfolio 43 x 54 cm. Twelve prints of China [ea. 32 x 43 cm image size], wonderfully well printed using a hybrid of collotype with woodcut printed color overlays. Clasped portfolio with printed silk title label. The prints are tipped onto backing mattes. Overall the prints themselves are in fine condition. Baldinger in his article about Seih? (1864-1942) mentions this series as complete in 12 (of a total of 36 projected) images. Displayed in 1922 at the Japan-France exchange, one of his original paintings, Sosh? no Ame ???? [Rain at Suzhou] won Seih? membership in the French Legion of Honor in 1924 as “Chevalier.” (Seih? later received the rank of “Officier” in 1931.) Two of the prints here are of Suzhou (also Soochow, ?? or ??). The publisher Otsuka Kogeisha ?????, founded by Otsuka Minoru, was known for its remarkable technical virtuosity in capturing in prints the delicacy of watercolor paintings. Done about the same time that Uns?d? ???, using similar techniques, was publishing Seih?'s Ippinshu portfolio. All in a cracked and repaired custom wooden box. .