A Bijin Imagining Shinobazu Pond — 美人不忍池を望む
- Date:
- 1895
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
$1,000–$10,000. Beauty prints by this artist are particularly sought after. Good nature studies: $3,000–$6,000. Key value factors: Watanabe Seitei's kacho-e prints have seen increased market interest. His work influenced both Japanese and Western artists.
An 1895 woodblock print depicting a bijin, a beautiful woman, gazing toward Shinobazu Pond in Tokyo's Ueno district. Watanabe Seitei renders the figure in quiet contemplation, her thoughts seemingly drawn outward toward the famous lotus-covered pond. Shinobazu Pond, with its seasonal cycles of lotus bloom and winter stillness, served as a favorite subject for Tokyo artists. Seitei's composition unites figure and landscape through the woman's directed gaze, making her reverie the emotional center of the print. The late Meiji setting suggests a woman in transitional times, dressed in traditional kimono but inhabiting a city rushing toward modernity.
Nikko Chuzenjiko
1930
Color woodblock print; oban
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Niigata Gosaibori
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
A Bijin Imagining Shinobazu Pond — 美人不忍池を望む was created by Watanabe Seitei (渡辺省亭) in 1895.
A Bijin Imagining Shinobazu Pond — 美人不忍池を望む depicts rivers & lakes and bijin-ga.
