Uemura -- "Female Ghost" (#4)

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Artist UEMURA, Shoen (1875-1949)
Title "Female Ghost"
Date ca1923
Provenance Dealer contact--from an exceptional private collection.
Series A Supplement of "The Complete Works of Chikamatsu" (12-print series)
("Dai Chikamatsu Zenshu")
Publisher unk
Seal, Carver/Printer Yamagishi Kazue/Nishimura Kumakichi (both artisans produced the entire 12-print series)
Image Size 11 1/4 x 18
Impression Very Fine. Superbly executed "bokashi" (gradation of colors) shading to ghost figure and background; "gauffraged" hair; gold metallic pigments to sword; hand-applied "gofun" as snow; highly detailed carving.
Condition Excellent. Very clean front/verso. (Light toning--otherwise flawless.)
Reference/Illus na
Comments A striking "ghost image" shown holding the sword with which she had disembowled herself. Part of a 12-print series of prints (each done by a different artist) published c1922/23; all were carved by Yamagishi Kazue and printed by Nishimura Kumakichi.
For a further discussion of this series, see "The New Wave - Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection" (page 168). In 1948 Uemura became the first Japanese woman to receive the "Order of Cultural Merit."
Item # EG-180
Price $625 (Reserved/PJ)