Item #90908 Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]. anaka Kichinosuke 田中吉之介, Nakamura Rokunosuke 中村六之介, artists.
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]
Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]

Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]

1953. Item #90908

Tanaka Kichinosuke 田中吉之介 and Nakamura Rokunosuke 中村六之介, et al artists. Haru no Ryūkō 春の流行 [Designs for Spring or Spring Trends]. [n.p.]. 1953. 21 sheets of stiff board, 10½ x 15 in., with color-printed designs on textured paper for kimono fabric laid down, with a glassine guard attached to each. (The sheets are numbered from 1- 20. However, some numbers are duplicated, while others are omitted, and there are actually 21. It seems to be a compilation of boards across two seasons.) The folios are housed loose, as issued, in the original pale pink-peach paper-covered portfolio, 10½ x 15½ in., with brown ribbon ties. Title printed in silver to upper board.

The first sheet is a process plate that shows 6 small samples of bright, spring colors from the collection and 3 small samples of tones that will be used in over-printing on them: silver gilt, matte black, and lacquer black. The dramatic effect of this combination is immediately apparent in the sample provided. It introduces the play of light and dark over limpid colors that enlivens the designs that follow and must have lent a shimmering elegance to the finished fabrics. Two designers' names, Tanaka Kichinosuke 田中吉之介 and Nakamura Rokunosuke 中村六之介, are printed at the lower edge of the first sheet. This sheet is followed by 19 sheets with a total of 62 printed designs laid down. The designs come in three sizes: 6 x 10½ in. (3 examples), 4½ x 4 in. (18 examples), and 2½ x 2¾ in. (41 of 42 examples). The designer's name appears below each print. The final sheet has 20 numbered color samples that comprise the luminous palette for spring 1953 with the title 大圖春の基調色 [Basic Tones for Spring Plans]. Four of the sheets, numbered 4, 7, 8 and 12, are labelled as Aki no Ryūkō 秋の流行 [Fall Trends] with the publisher name Happōdō 八宝堂刊.

Other than the title on the front cover, there is no text accompanying this collection. The two designers on the first sheet, Tanaka Kichinosuke 田中吉之介 (1897 - ?) and Nakamura Rokunosuke 中村六之介, are known as artists and designers and are listed in OCLC as contributors to the textile design book Reishun 麗春, published in 1934. Nakamura is credited with 6 design books in OCLC, all published by Uchida Bijutsu Shoshi 内田美術書肆 (Uchida Art and Book Shop), in Kyōto in the late 1920s to early 1930s. Kichinosuke also has a number of design books to his name. Uchida Bijutsu Shoshi was a famous printer/publisher who was responsible for a number of amazing design portfolios during that period. The identifying of the other designers is of interest, such as Takahashi Nobuo 高橋信雄, et al.

A kimono is skillfully drawn on the verso of one board. One of the smallest size prints is missing. The portfolio is quite dust soiled. The glassine guards and most of the stiff backing boards are toned but the prints remain bright and fresh.

Price: $675.00