Japanese Woodblock Print, Fireflies at Kinu River at Tennoji, 1930 published by the Shima Art Co.

SIZE IN INCHES: chuban, 7.5 x 10.25 inches

PROVENANCE: From the Robert O. Muller estate.

KOBAYASHI KIYOCHIKA (1847-1915) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, best known for his ukiyo-e color woodblock prints and newspaper illustrations. His work documents the rapid modernization and Westernization Japanese underwent during the Meiji period (1868-1912) and employs a sense of light and shade called kosen-ga inspired by Western art techniques. His work first found an audience in the 1870s with prints of red-brick buildings and trains that had proliferated after the Meiji Restoration; his prints of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 were also popular. Woodblock printing fell out of favor during this period, and many collectors consider Kobayashi's work the last significant example of ukiyo-e.

Fine, no flaws