VINTAGE TOKURIKI TOMIKICHIRO “SOBA VENDOR” JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINT. The title of this print is. The image depicts a soba noodle vendor’s wagon in the evening. The vendor can be seen in silhouette beneath a willow tree playing a “charumera, ” a small brass horn typically used by noodle vendors to attract customers. A warm glow comes from a red paper lantern and an illuminated sign on the wagon. Soba is the Japanese name for buckwheat. This Tomikichiro print is large oban sized, measuring about 14 7/8″ tall and 9 5/8″ wide, including the slightly trimmed margins. The actual image is approximately 14 1/8″ x 9 1/4″. It is mounted on board but very skillfully done. The print is unframed. The artist signature appears in the print at the top right corner. It has remnants of the Matsukyu seal in the lower right margin, a company founded after the war by Tomikichiro, mainly for the promotion of his own prints. There are also remnants of a signature or title in the bottom right margin, but it has been trimmed and is therefore unreadable. Print is one of his most popular images. He represented the 12th generation of a Kyoto artisan family designated as the official Kyoto print artists for the famous Honganji Temple. He graduated from Kyoto City School of Fine Arts and Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting in 1924. After World War II, he established the Matsukyu Publishing Company to produce and distribute his own prints and other Shin Hanga and Sosaku Hanga pieces. He was an influential figure in Japan’s contemporary print movement and his prints are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Condition of this Tokuriki Tomikichiro woodblock print is EXCELLENT. The colors are very nice and the image is undamaged. As I mentioned previously, the print is mounted on board and has slightly trimmed margins. The mounting job was very well done with no wrinkling or loose spots (perfectly flat). Overall, this collectible print looks fantastic and displays well. Please take a close look at the many photos I’ve provided and judge condition for yourself. While you’re here, please check out my other listings by clicking on the link below. See my other listings. For more great items! Bottom Portion of Image. Top Portion of Image. Closeup of Noodle Cart. Markings in Margins – Remnants of Matsukyu Seal. Markings in Bottom Margin Trimmed. I will insure this item at my own expense. Txzj pxzj2495 txzj-11 txzj39 txzj115.
