Hokusai. Edmond de Goncourt
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possible to list the entire catalogue. Among the surimonos from the Manzi collection, there are many very beautiful works 50 cm wide by 18 cm tall:
– A flight of seven cranes on a red background of the setting sun.
– A flowering plum tree with two pheasants at its foot and whose branches spread over a river, showing under the flowering greenery, a perspective of two boats.
– Three women are kneeling at the edge of a bay, their eyes looking out to sea, while a servant girl fans the fire of a stove heating some sake.
– Above a flowering cherry tree, two red throated swallows fly. Nothing can give a better idea of the softness than this plate and the subdued charm of these flowers, in the cloud on the print where an almost imperceptible embossing separates the pistils.
We can cite, among the surimonos from Mr. Gonse’s collection:
– A copse of trees by a river and the façade of the interior of a house where two men work, making dolls. This is the home of Toyokuni, Hokusai’s neighbour in Katsushika, at the time when Toyokuni was not yet a painter but a doll maker.
– A pink and white landscape that, with flowering fruit trees, is like the arrival of spring on a winter scene.
Among the surimonos in Mr. Vever’s collection, we can cite:
– A promenade in a temple by men and women examining paintings hung on the wall. A pair of Japanese men has stopped in front of a kakemono; one is looking at the painting, and the other is looking at the women.
– A man, in a ‘house of ill repute’, is smoking. His mistress, next to him, is, for her lover’s pleasure, making her kamuro, her servant girl, try a dance step while the dance teacher kneeling in front of her guides her movements.
We should also note, among the medium sized surimonos belonging to Mr. Havilland:
– A god of thunder settling, amidst lightning bolts, into the bath of a half-dressed woman.
– A wrestler or kami, for whom a woman is refilling a sake cup as large as a dish while two other women crouching at his feet are laughing at his fat, hairy belly.
Three Women with a Telescope, excerpt from the series Album of Kyōka – Mountain upon Mountain (Ehon kyōka), 1804.
Nishiki-e. Pulverer Collection, Cologne.
Panoramic View of the Sumida Banks with the Shin Yanagibashi and Ryōgokubashi Bridges, excerpt from the Illustrated Book of the Two Banks of the Sumida in One View (Ehon Sumidagawa ryōgan ichiran), c. 1803.
Illustrated book, nishiki-e, each sheet: 27.2 × 18.5 cm.
Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden.
Panoramic View of the Sumida Banks with the Shin Yanagibashi and Ryōgokubashi Bridges, excerpt from the Illustrated Book of the Two Banks of the Sumida in One View (Ehon Sumidagawa ryōgan ichiran), c. 1803.
Illustrated book, nishiki-e, each sheet: 27.2 × 18.5 cm.
Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden.
Panoramic View of the Sumida Banks with the Shin Yanagibashi and Ryogokubashi Bridges, excerpt from the Illustrated Book of the Two Banks of the Sumida in One View (Ehon Sumidagawa ryogan ichiran), c. 1803.
Illustrated book, nishiki-e, 27.2 × 18.5 cm.
Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden.
Among the large format surimonos:
– A view of the Sumida full of boats.
– Silk weavers at work in the countryside, one of whom is drawing a bed for the loom across the threads.
– Young Japanese men playing by a bridge. This print is signed: “Gwakiojin Hokusai, while drunk.”
Finally, we cite, from the collection of Mr. Chialiva:
– A unique surimono, the largest known surimono by the artist (L. 100 cm), representing a bridge in the style of the great bridge over the Sumida by Utamaro, and in which it is believed that Hokusai is shown in profile in a little black hat, witha bluish robe. On the bridge men and women walking take a break to rest and contemplate. There is also a group of three women, one of whom is leaning her head over the railing, looking at the river. A group of men are holding forth. One man, who has hung a flowering branch from a shrub on a beam, is half lying against the gate, while at the edge of the bridge a woman talks with a friend, her two hands pushing against the handrail in a charming, lifelike pose. This surimono, which is the union of two large surimonos, is signed: “Hokusai Sôri”.
1805:
– A six plate series on ‘Women Poets’.
– A series on the ‘Five Elements’.
– A series called Ténjin, after the name of a kami; a mother lifting, with a tender touch, a child above her head to help him pick flowers from a plum tree.
– A series, ‘Springtime Distractions’, in a slightly larger format than the normal format for series of women, and with a more sophisticated technique.
– This year being the year of the bull, one finds all sorts of representations of this animal, as under a rock of this shape.
Among the large plates, one finds:
– The entrance to a temple, where at the door, a man gives water to the faithful to make their ablutions.
– A travelling merchant presents, at the door of a home, washing products to some women.
– A doll’s party with an exhibition of many figurines on a cardboard display shelf, in the middle of which a taï is set for a light meal.
1806:
– A series of seven courtesans, among which one plays the shamisen with very graceful movements.
– A series entitled ‘The Various Countries’. These are imaginary countries. A stamp shows ‘The Kingdom of the Women’, where on one day of the year, under the influence of a west wind, all the women become pregnant. All the women are turned towards this wind.
– 1806 is the year of the tiger and one sees women wearing robes embroidered with tigers.
Among the large plates, one finds:
– The seven gods of the Japanese Olympus, hidden under the pelt of an immense Korean lion, which they make move.
– A landscape of the other side of the Sumida, where one sees the Asakusa temple.
– A boat loaded with barrels of sake.
1807:
– Two children wrestling.
– Two lovers stretched out one next to the other; the woman smoking a little pipe.
– Still lifes: two fish attached to a bamboo branch, a cardboard mask, front and back.
1808:
This year, the painter produced a very small number of surimonos, among which a large plate represents a screen, a bowl and a hairpin on a lacquered tray.
1809:
The little surimonos in which one sees fish, scallops and hawk feathers, used to dust delicate things.
Among the large plates, one finds:
– The making of a standard, whose motto is written in white on a blue background, on which six women are working, in pretty poses. The standard will be given to Yenoshima, at the temple of the goddess Benten.
1810:
Some small still lifes were created, and among others, a surimono representing sticks of India ink and a stamp box.
1812:
– A