Shunko Deshima 出島 春光 (1897–1940) - Vue de Prague depuis une terrasse arborée sur Soie Dorée (Vendu sans prix de réserve)

Charming and poetic ink on gold silk painting depicting a view of Prague from a tree-lined terrace by Shunko Deshima 出島 春光 (1897–1940)

Title: View of the City from the Tree-Lined Terrace

Artist: Shunko Deshima (1897–1940)

Technique: Ink on gold silk (framed)

Signature: Signed at the lower right

Format: 26 × 41 cm (viewable artwork) / 31 × 46 cm (with frame)

Condition: Good condition

In a beautiful original lacquer frame of exceptional elegance.

Shunko Deshima 出島 春光 (1897–1940), born Keitarō Dejima (出島 啓太郎), is a Japanese painter, illustrator, engraver and lithographer of the School of Paris. After studying traditional painting (nihonga) at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, he traveled to Europe in the early 1920s, visiting Prague and Brussels before settling in Paris around 1925. A picturesque figure of the Montparnasse district during the Jazz Age, he moved in Japanese artistic circles alongside Tsuguharu Foujita and poet Mitsuharu Kaneko. His work is distinguished by a very restrained graphic style in which traditional nihonga techniques predominate over Western influences. He mainly works with ink on paper, watercolor and gouache on silk, often accenting his compositions with gold or silver backgrounds inspired by Art Deco. He enjoyed strong popularity with French audiences fond of oriental exoticism, notably exhibiting Parisian landscapes such as Notre-Dame (circa 1932). His favored subjects include animals treated with great delicacy, particularly cats and farmyard scenes, as well as bouquets and Parisian models. He typically signs his works with a double signature, associating his name in Latin letters with his vertical Japanese signature (出島春光). These biographical details are documented in Japanese museum archives, such as those of the Saitama Museum of Modern Art.