岩田千太郎 - 春日黄昏 - 1973 - 三联画 - 日本木版画 - 日本 - 20世纪

Iwata Sentarō (岩田専太郎), 1901–1974
Haru no Yoi (春の宵) – Spring Evening

Technique: Original woodblock print (shin hanga)
Series: Iwata Sentarō San-byaku Nen no Onna (岩田専太郎 三百年の女) — Women in Three Hundred Years by Iwata Sentarō. No. 2 of the series
Publisher: Mainichi Shimbun, 1973
Edition: Limited edition of 300 copies (25 sheets per set, issued as framing plates)
Format: Ōban tate-e (large vertical format), 41.5 × 29.0 cm (16.3 × 11.4 in)
Signature: Artist's red seal (upper right)

1. Impression & Colors:

Excellent. The lustrous golden mica background is rich and even. The deep indigo blue of the kanoko shibori kimono, the vivid red of the asanoha-patterned obi, the jet-black hair, and the delicate pink blush on the cheeks are all fresh and precisely registered. The fine lines of the hair, the kanzashi ornaments, and the intricate white dot pattern of the kimono fabric are crisp and sharply printed throughout.

2. Paper:

Excellent condition. The washi is clean and bright with full, uncut margins showing the characteristic deckle edges. No foxing, toning, creases, or tears noted.

3. Haru no Yoi — A Beauty on a Spring Evening in Edo

"Haru no Yoi" (Spring Evening) is the second design in Iwata Sentarō's ambitious late series San-byaku Nen no Onna (Women in Three Hundred Years), which traces the evolution of Japanese feminine beauty across three centuries. This print reaches back to the Edo period, depicting a young woman in traditional dress with her head gently inclined — a gesture of quiet composure and understated grace. Her hair is arranged in a classical shimada-mage coiffure, adorned with a white ribbon, a purple polka-dot tama-kanzashi, and a wooden kōgai hairpin. The pose is intimate and introspective, as if the viewer has caught her in a moment of private reverie on a warm spring evening.

The composition is dominated by the bold sweep of her indigo kanoko shibori kimono — its dense field of tiny white dots rendered with extraordinary precision through the woodblock process — set against a luminous golden mica background that suffuses the entire scene with a warm, twilight glow. The red asanoha (hemp leaf) pattern of the obi and collar trim provides a vibrant counterpoint, while the pale skin tones and delicate blush on the cheeks demonstrate the refined bokashi (gradation) printing for which Iwata's work is celebrated. The interplay of geometric textile patterns — the rhythmic dots of the shibori, the angular asanoha, the playful polka-dots on the hair ornament — creates a rich visual texture within a composition that is, at its heart, serene and contemplative.

4. Iwata Sentarō: The Last Great Shin Hanga Bijin-ga Master

Iwata Sentarō was born in 1901 in the Asakusa district of Tokyo and studied bijin-ga under Itō Shinsui, one of the founding masters of the shin hanga movement. After a period in Kyoto studying yūzen dyeing and textile design — an experience that left a lasting imprint on his sensitivity to pattern and fabric — Iwata returned to Tokyo and by the 1920s had established himself as one of Japan's leading magazine and newspaper illustrators. His illustrations appeared in the Mainichi Shimbun, Shūkan Asahi, and other major publications, and by the 1930s he was among the most recognized commercial artists in Japan. In 1950, he founded the Federation of Publishing Artists (Shuppan Bijutsuka Renmei).

Throughout his career, Iwata's woodblock prints were produced in the traditional shin hanga collaborative system: he provided the design, and professional carvers (horishi) and printers (surishi) executed the blocks and printing. His publishers included the most respected names in the field — Takamizawa, Adachi, Katō Junji, and Watanabe Shōzaburō. The San-byaku Nen no Onna series, published by Mainichi Shimbun in 1973 — just a year before the artist's death — represents one of his most ambitious and collectible late projects: a panoramic survey of Japanese beauty across three centuries, rendered with the full technical resources of the woodblock medium. The series was issued in a strictly limited edition of 300 copies, with each set containing 25 sheets designed as framing plates. Iwata's works are held by the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and his prints are actively sought by collectors in Japan, Europe, and the United States.