$300–$3,000. Common subjects: $300–$800. Key value factors: Brown's atmospheric Asian landscape prints appeal to collectors of both Western and Japanese printmaking traditions.
Nan Hai, a district in central Peking (Beijing), provides the setting for this [oban](/glossary/oban) woodblock print by Pieter Irwin Brown. The name likely refers to the area around Nanhai Lake, one of the three interconnected lakes within the former Imperial City, adjacent to the Forbidden City. This was a landscape of willows, pavilions, and causeways that had been shaped by imperial design over centuries. Brown, traveling through China as a Western artist working in a Japanese print medium, occupied a unique position: he applied woodblock techniques learned from Japanese practice to Chinese subjects that Japanese printmakers rarely depicted. The result is a hybrid work that filters Chinese imperial architecture and landscape through a process rooted in Japanese craft tradition. The flat water surface of the lake and the horizontal lines of traditional Chinese architecture translate well into the woodblock medium's layered printing approach.
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.
Nan hei, Peking was created by Pieter Irwin Brown.
Nan hei, Peking depicts landscapes, rivers & lakes, and travel scenes.
