Windy day, umbrella
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
Typical Price
Shotei produced a wide range of subjects throughout his career under publishers Watanabe and Daikokuya. Signed, sealed lifetime editions consistently outperform unsigned export-market copies.
- Export editions or later printings: $100–$500
- Signed lifetime editions: $500–$2,500
- Premium impressions with provenance: $2,500–$8,000
Description
A figure struggles against a strong wind with a paper umbrella or oiled-cloth parasol — the umbrella threatening to invert or carry the person sideways, the force of the wind visible in bent grasses, flying leaves, or the angle of everything that can be moved. Shotei was deeply attentive to the phenomenology of weather, and the wind-and-umbrella subject allowed him to render the invisible force of moving air through its effects on the visible world. The comedy and vulnerability of the figure battling the gusts gives the image its characteristic warmth.
