Date: 1936, published by Watanabe, 1936 Watanabe Cat. 6.75″ x 15″. Condition: Fine, no flaws of note, uncirculated print. Impression: Fine, excellent registration, solid key lines and bleed through to verso. Color: Fine, strong color with good bleed through. A woman holds tightly to her wind blown umbrella as lightening bolts flash across the summer sky. Behind her a fisherman, carrying his net over his shoulder, seems unperturbed by the lightening flash. Takahashi Shotei was born in Tokyo with the given name of Takahashi Katsutaro. At a young age he was trained in Nihon-ga , the traditional Japanese painting style by his uncle Matsumoto Fuko, and beginning around 1907 Shotei started designing for the Watanabe Color Print Company. Shotei was among the first designers to be recruited into Watanabe’s stable of artists, which would later expand to include Goyo, Shinsui, Hasui, Kasamatsu, Koson and Koitsu among others. Many Watanabe prints were designed for export, primarily to North America, where the demand for all things Japanese was high in the early 20th century. By 1923 Shotei had produced nearly 500 designs for Watanabe, when Tokyo was hit by the Great Kanto earthquake — the worst recorded natural catastrophe in the history of Japan. The fires ignited by the earthquake raged for three days, and Watanabe’s print shop and all the woodblocks created by Shotei and the other early shin hanga artists, were destroyed. After the earthquake Shotei created another 250 prints mostly depicting scenic Japanese landscapes in the shin hanga style he had helped to define. He continued to work for Watanabe, but also worked with the publishers Fusui Gabo and Shobido Tanaka, where he had more control over the finished print than was possible with Watanabe. The item “SHOTEI Japanese Woodblock Print LIGHTENING AND THUNDER STORM 1936 HIROAKI” is in sale since Wednesday, March 22, 2017. This item is in the category “Antiques\Asian Antiques\Japan\Prints”. The seller is “bayareakiteguy” and is located in Cupertino, California. This item can be shipped to United States.

• Maker: Watanabe
• Type: Paintings, Scrolls & Prints
• Primary Material: Paper
• Age: 1900-1940
• Region of Origin: Japanese
• Original/Reproduction: Original
• Details: Authentic hand made Japanese woodblock print