Ito Shinsui, "Sea Breeze, Oshima"

About 120km from Tokyo, Oshima Island in the Pacific Ocean was a safe haven for Ito Shinsui during World War II. In this design, Shinsui shows a small village perched on the cliffs of Oshima overlooking the warm waters of the ocean. From a series of twelve designs in Shinsui's Oshima Island series. 

Series: Twelve Sights of Oshima Island
Date: 1938
Size: Oban
Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
Condition: Excellent color and condition
Frame Shown: 16" x 24" x 1/2", Classic Wood, Clear Walnut

Ito Shinsui (1898-1972) is one of Japan's most important artists to emerge from the shin-hanga era. Along with his good friend Hasui Kawase, Shinsui's woodblock prints, especially his bijin-ga (prints of beautiful women), are iconic in their form and beauty. Many of his landscapes document his time away from Tokyo during World War II.