Chigusa Soun Flowers of Japan Woodblock Prints 1900

Chigusa Soun (Sou-un) 1873-1944 was born in Kyoto and started his artistic life in the late Meiji Period, under the tutelage of Takeuchi Seiho, a major figure in the Nihonga School of traditional Japanese style painting. Enjoying moderate success, and exhibiting widely, Soun was nonetheless dissatisfied and sought a new, less traditional artistic direction.

As a founder of the Heigo in 1906, he embraced a style with a more western outlook and a belief that artist should reflect social conditions of the times. Ultimately, he became a master of kacho-e style of bird and flower prints that was a prominent feature of the Shin hanga movement.

It is from this period that we are please to present these wonderful large oban prints, measuring 17 by 10 3/4 inches, enhanced by gauffrage (embossing). Rarely found on the market, we have found a few in the past, but never an almost complete set. The backgrounds to the flowers are enhanced with soft colors in light tan and green shades, with very few defects.