MOOR HEN Japanese Woodblock MULLER COLLECTION 1930s

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MOOR HEN Japanese Woodblock MULLER COLLECTION 1930s

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Sold Date: 01/07/2007
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Ethnic, Folk & Native American Art

MOOR HEN Japanese Woodblock MULLER COLLECTION 1930s SAKAI HOITSU Moorhen and Water Plants Date: c. 1920s; published by Hasegawa/Nishinomiya, collected by Robert O. Muller
Size: shikishi approx. 7.375" x 8.5"
Condition: VG, minor flaws, never framed, uncirculated print; "Made in Japan" stamped on the verso in bottom margin
Impression: VG, excellent registration, solid keylines, and gauffrage on the thin lines in the water area denoting the current
Color: VG, good color and bleed through to verso A moor hen stands at the water's edge near some flowering plants. WHO WAS ROBERT O. MULLER?
Robert O. Muller’s love affair with Japanese prints began one day in the 1930s, when as a student in New York City he spotted a Hasui in a gallery window, and immediately arranged to purchase the print. As a newly wed in 1940 he went on a print shopping tour to Japan with his wife w he met the shin hanga publisher Watanabe Shozaburo and Watanabe’s stable of artists including: Kawase Hasui, Shiro Kasamatsu, and Ito Shinsui. He also met and befriended Hiroshi Yoshida.

After WWII, Muller continued to deal in Japanese prints, but he was also an avid collector with a keen eye for good art. Although the Muller Collection is best known for shin hanga, Mr. Muller also collected late nineteenth century prints and good reproductions of famous Edo masters.

When Mr. Muller passed away on April 10, 2003, he had left possibly the largest and finest collection of 20th century Japanese prints in the world, and the question of what would become of his notorious collection was a major topic among Japanese print collectors. The finest 20th century prints from his collection were given as a gift to the Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C., and an exhibit was mounted. Other portions of the collection were sold at auction and still more remains with his heirs. Several books have been published about the collection. ABOUT SAKAI HOITSU
Sakai H?itsu)(1761-1828) was a Japanese painter of the Rinpa school. He is famous for reviving the style and popularity of Ogata K?rin, and for creating a number of reproductions of K?rin's work.

H?itsu was born in Edo; his father was the lord (daimyo) of Himeji Castle in Harima Province. Moving to Kyoto, H?itsu began his studies in art in the Kan? school before moving on to study under Utagawa Toyoharu of the ukiyo-e style. He later studied under Watanabe Nangaku of the Maruyama school and So Shiseki of the nanga style before finally becoming a painter of the Rinpa school.

H?itsu became a Buddhist priest in 1797, and spent the last 21 years of his life in seclusion. During this time, he studied the work of Ogata K?rin extensively, as well as that of K?rin's brother Ogata Kenzan, and produced a number of reproductions of the brothers' works. He also produced two books of woodblock prints of the brothers' work, as well as one book of his own; these were titled K?rin Hyakuzu (1815), Kenzan Iboku Gafu (1823), and Oson Gafu respectively.

H?itsu's style shows elements of the realism of ukiyo-e, but resembles particularly the decorative style of Ogata K?rin, which H?itsu took major steps to revive. SEE MY OTHER AUCTIONS FOR FOR OTHER WOODBLOCK PRINTS AND BOOKS ABOUT WOODBLOCK ARTISTS
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