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KUSAKABE KIMBEI (1841-1934)
A rich album with 50 photographs of Japan, each artfully hand-colored.
Including sweeping landscapes,
temples, detailed occupational scenes (including greeting and tea images, women eating rice, and
playing what appears to be a badminton), studio portraits, and naturalistic outdoor scenes. Hand-
colored albumen prints, the images measuring 8x10
1
/
4
inches (20.3x26 cm.), and the reverse,
mounted recto/verso, most with an inventory number and caption in the negative; 3 with a small
printed label. Large oblong folio, black lacquer pictorial covers with inset ivory and gilt highlights,
the image depicting a man pulling a woman in a rickshaw and Mt. Fuji; leather backstrip; all edges
gilt; with Kimbei’s small oval hand stamp on the front pastedown; and in the original decorative
leather box. 1890s
[3,000/4,500]
Kimbei opened his ownYokohama studio in
1880, and became incredibly popular with
tourists. He seems to have previously worked
as a colorist to Felice Beato and Baron
Raimond von Stillfried, and the images from
his studio are remarkable for their fine hand-
coloring and elegant presentation.His inventory
included his own imagery as well as images
from those studios that preceded him in Japan.