Key value factors: As self-carved and self-printed works, sosaku-hanga value is tied to the artist's reputation and edition size. Larger formats, earlier editions, and historically significant works command the highest prices.
"Picnic" (1897) depicts the outdoor eating and social gathering that constituted the Meiji-era picnic — whether beneath cherry blossoms, in a garden, or at a scenic natural location. The picnic as a social occasion reflected both traditional Japanese practices of outdoor eating at seasonal viewing events and the Westernized leisure culture being adopted in Meiji Japan. Shuntei renders the scene with the attention to social arrangement and outdoor pleasure that characterized his best genre work.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Picnic was created by Miyagawa Shuntei (宮川春汀) in 1897.
Picnic depicts figures, cherry blossoms, and bijin-ga.
