"Shôtei" Prints Not In The Catalog As far as I know, I am the only cataloguer of the printed work of Takahashi Shôtei. This is a responsibility that I take very seriously. It is essential that the integrity of this catalog be protected by not adding prints which can't be proven to be Shôtei's work. The major criteria for inclusion is that a print must have either a Shôtei or Hiroaki seal and/or signature. On a regular basis, collectors get in touch with me to share a previously uncataloged image. In most cases, I agree that it is Shôtei's work and the print is added to the catalog. However, on occasion a print which has been attributed to Shôtei is lacking the required seal and signature, and I have to exclude it. The purpose of this page is to document prints which have been excluded from the catalog. Perhaps some of them truly are the original work of Shôtei. Could be... To view a higher resolution scan of any of these images, please click on a small image. If you have any thoughts to share, please get in touch. Kanda Matsuri This woodblock print was included in the English language "Nippon Today" which was jointly published the the newspapers "Osaka Mainichi Shimbun" and "Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun". Credit is clearly given to "Hiroaki Takahashi" in the accompanying printed text, however there is neither a seal nor signature in the image. It was not easy to exclude this print because it belongs to a good friend and fellow collector who is convinced that it is "the real thing". He says: There is no signature, no seal, no publisher's seal, no watermark nor is there any indication to the designer's credit on the print. However, there is a "credit" sheet which gives the story of the festival, the title of the print (Kanda Matsuri) and the name of the artist in no uncertain detail. The print is by Takahashi Hiroaki, There are 8 art "objects" in all, only one of a woodblock print. The remainder appear to be special photographs or drawings. One of these is by the woodblock print artist, Miki Suizan, but it is not a print. It was jointly sponsored (published ?) by the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun and the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun (newspapers). It was issued in portfolio form in September of 1940. Very interesting. It is real. This print, and our little controversy about it, is what made me decide to add this page to the shotei.com website. Snow Scene Signed "Fuyô" It is common knowledge that "Fuyô" is an early go (art name) of Narazaki Eishô. This print is clearly signed and sealed with the name "Fuyô", therefore, it won't be included in the catalog. However, I'm not buying it. Everything about this print screams out to me "Shôtei!". The composition, the subtle coloration, the characters that I'm using for wallpaper on this page, even the dog. There is no doubt in my mind that this is an early Shôtei print. "Fuyô" must have been a house name, used by multiple artists. Of course I can't prove it, but that's what I get from this print. A Print From The Web Here is a mitsugiri-ban print which is displayed on a website where it is attributed to Shôtei. I have tried to get in touch with the people who built the website, to get a seal close-up, but my emails have gone unanswered. Everything about this print suggests that it truly is a Shôtei print. I've got my eyes open, looking for it to show up on ebay or something, but until I can see the seal, it will not be added to the catalog. Senjafuda There are about 20 senjafuda prints for sale in an on-line gallery which have seals reading Takahashi. The owner of the gallery suspects that these are the work of Takahashi Shôtei. In fact, these are the work of another artist named Takahashi Tonosuke who was active in the 1910s. To my knowledge, Shôtei never used his family name when either signing or putting a seal on any of his artwork. Silhouettes Shôtei designed some marvelous prints with characters in silhouette. These were some of his most popular prints and they attracted imitations from other artists and publishers. Most of the imitation prints have the silhouetted figures in solid black. Shôtei's shadow people were almost always done in black and grey, as is the figure carrying the lantern in the background of this page. The unsigned/unsealed horizontal print above was sold on ebay in early 2003, attributed to Hiroaki. On the back of the framed print was a label from the Kabutoya Gallery naming Hiroaki as the artist and giving a date in the 1950s. Hiroaki died in 1945. It is all too common for reputable galleries to give mistaken attributions. Caveat emptor! The fisherman print, to the right above, enjoyed a place in the Shôtei catalog for more than a year as S-11. That was my mistake. I saw the familiar "Shô" kanji character at the top of the seal, and never really looked at the lower character. It's not readable by any of my Japanese friends, but all agree that it can't be "Tei". So, now there is no S-11 in the Shôtei catalog of prints. A Silhouette with a Signature Here is a dai-oban print which was found mounted on a kakemono hanging scroll. The signature could be Shôtei's, but it's too calligraphic to be read with certainty. An argument against it is that the silhouetted figures lack the gray highlights mentioned above. So, the jury is out. Home  Copyright 2003-2005 by Marc Kahn; All Rights Reserved