Shotei produced a wide range of subjects throughout his career under publishers Watanabe and Daikokuya. Signed, sealed lifetime editions consistently outperform unsigned export-market copies.
A figure struggles against a strong wind with a paper umbrella or oiled-cloth parasol — the umbrella threatening to invert or carry the person sideways, the force of the wind visible in bent grasses, flying leaves, or the angle of everything that can be moved. Shotei was deeply attentive to the phenomenology of weather, and the wind-and-umbrella subject allowed him to render the invisible force of moving air through its effects on the visible world. The comedy and vulnerability of the figure battling the gusts gives the image its characteristic warmth.
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.
Windy day, umbrella was created by Takahashi Shotei (高橋松亭).
Windy day, umbrella was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Windy day, umbrella depicts landscapes, figures, and rain.
