$1,000–$8,000. Common subjects: $1,000–$2,500. Key value factors: As one of the first Western shin-hanga artists, Capelari's prints have both historical significance and artistic appeal. Watanabe-published prints are most valued.
Created in 1916 in the [oban](/glossary/oban) format, this woodblock print presents a young girl in portrait, her face and posture captured with the directness of a Western trained eye working in a Japanese medium. Fritz Capelari was an Austrian artist who traveled to Japan and became one of the first Western artists to produce [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) prints under the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo. His European training in observational drawing gave his portraits a naturalistic quality distinct from the idealized faces typical of Japanese [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga). The girl's features are rendered with individual specificity rather than the standardized beauty of traditional prints. Capelari's cross-cultural position, a Viennese artist working with Japanese carvers and printers, produced a hybrid visual language that belongs fully to neither tradition. The oban format provided ample space for this close study of a young face.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
(Title unknown) Portrait of a Girl was created by Fritz Capelari (フリッツ・カペラリ) in 1916.
(Title unknown) Portrait of a Girl depicts children, daily life, and portraits.
