Firefly - 蛍
- Date:
- 1920
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Ohmi Gallery
$5,000–$40,000. Common subjects: $5,000–$10,000. Key value factors: Very limited output makes all prints relatively scarce. The 'Styles of Contemporary Make-up' series is most collected.
"Firefly" (Hotaru), from 1920, is an early work from Kobayakawa's career, depicting a young woman on a summer evening — perhaps holding or watching fireflies, whose intermittent light was a classical trope of transient beauty in Japanese poetry. Even this early print shows the directness of characterization that would define his mature bijin-ga: the woman's gaze and pose are specific and assured, not idealized. The intimate scale and delicate summer palette place it in dialogue with Harunobu and Utamaro while asserting a contemporary voice.
Not set
Woodblock print
1/1931
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
1924
Oil on board
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Firefly - 蛍 was created by Kobayakawa Kiyoshi (小早川清) in 1920.
Firefly - 蛍 was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1920).
Firefly - 蛍 depicts insects.
