Japanese House in Snow / Snowy Morning
- Date:
- Early 20th century, or 1940s printing of earlier design
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
$1,500–$10,000. Snow and night scenes tend to command premium prices for this artist. Key value factors: Settai's literary elegance and refined technique have a niche but devoted following among collectors of Japanese aestheticism.
A traditional Japanese house stands blanketed in fresh snow on a quiet morning in this oban color woodblock print. Komura Settai uses the architecture as a geometric framework, its clean horizontal and vertical lines contrasting with the soft, irregular forms of accumulated snow on roofs, fences, and garden stones. The scene evokes the particular silence of a snowy morning, when sound is absorbed and the world feels newly made. Settai's restrained palette, likely limited to grays, whites, and the deep black of wet wood, suits the subject's inherent minimalism. The print may date from the early twentieth century or represent a 1940s printing of an earlier design, a common practice in shin-hanga publishing.
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Yuki no Miyajima
1929
Color woodblock print; oban
1932
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Japanese House in Snow / Snowy Morning was created by Komura Settai (小村雪岱) in Early 20th century, or 1940s printing of earlier design.
Japanese House in Snow / Snowy Morning was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (Early 20th century, or 1940s printing of earlier design).
Japanese House in Snow / Snowy Morning depicts snow scenes.
