Kiyoshi Yamashita - Nagaoka Fireworks(長岡の花火)
Kiyoshi Yamashita - Nagaoka Fireworks(長岡の花火)
| Artist | Kiyoshi Yamashita (Japan, 1922-1971) |
| Year | 1922-1971 |
| Materials | Lithograph on paper |
| Size | (H) 56.0 cm, (W) 75.5 cm |
| Framed | (H) 70.5 cm, (W) 89.5 cm, (D) 3.5 cm |
| Rarity | Limited edition of 300 (this impression: 259/300) |
| Medium | |
| Signature | Red artist seal at lower-right margin; edition 259/300 in pencil at lower-left; embossed Azuma Kogei Tokyo publisher blindstamp. |
| Condition and Authenticity | Slight overall toning and fading; tape residue on the upper back; faint soiling along both side margins. No certificate of authenticity is included. |
| Provenance | Auction in Japan |
| Frame | Ornate gilt wood frame with white mat and clear glazing; minor back toning, a small chip at upper left and slight knocks to the upper-right and lower-left corners. |
An authorized lithograph edition of Kiyoshi Yamashita's celebrated masterpiece "Nagaoka Fireworks," faithfully reproducing his original paper-collage (chigirie) vision of the great fireworks festival held over the Shinano River in Nagaoka. Yamashita (1922-1971), the self-taught "wandering genius" known in Japan as the "Naked General" and often called the "Japanese van Gogh," built his images from thousands of torn scraps of colored paper. Here the night sky bursts with concentric chrysanthemums of blue, red and gold, mirrored on the dark water below, while a vast crowd of individually rendered spectators fills the foreground - a scene that captures both the exhilaration and the quiet of a Japanese summer festival. This impression is numbered 259/300, bears the artist's red authentication seal at lower right, and carries the embossed 'Azuma Kogei Tokyo' publisher blindstamp. Editions of this title were issued by Azuma Kogei Co., Ltd., Tokyo, under the supervision of the artist's younger brother, Tatsuzo Yamashita, using the seal Kiyoshi used during his lifetime. Presented framed in an ornate gilt wood frame with a white mat.