H
Harbor View
- Date:
- c. 1916
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
Harbor views are rare among Capelari's approximately 24 known designs, giving this landscape subject additional scarcity value. The Austrian artist's treatment of water and atmosphere reflects his European training filtered through Japanese woodblock technique. Pre-earthquake impressions range $3,000-$7,000; later Watanabe reprints typically bring $1,500-$3,000.
A color woodblock print from around 1916, this [oban](/glossary/oban)-format work presents a view of a harbor, likely one of the numerous port towns Capelari encountered during his travels in Japan. Harbor scenes offered rich compositional material: the geometry of docked boats, the vertical lines of masts, the horizontal expanse of water, and the architectural backdrop of warehouses or hillside buildings. Fritz Capelari brought a European landscape painter's sense of atmospheric perspective to the Japanese woodblock format, suggesting depth through tonal shifts from foreground to background. The harbor would have been a working space, filled with the activity of loading and unloading cargo, mending nets, and preparing for the next voyage. Capelari's print freezes one moment in this daily cycle, selecting a viewpoint that organizes the harbor's visual complexity into a balanced composition.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Harbor View was created by Fritz Capelari (フリッツ・カペラリ) in c. 1916.
Harbor View was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (c. 1916).
Harbor View depicts landscapes and seascapes.
