It’s been a crazy month for me: Spring Break (which was nice), I blew out my shoulder by printing too much (I didn’t know I had rhomboid muscles… and they HURT!), and had an unrelated surgery.
But enough of that. Before I mustered the courage to make woodblock prints (circa 1993), I used to collect them instead. It’s great to see these online or in a reference book, but looking at the real thing has taught me a lot about color and printing techniques. As most of you know, woodblock prints are even more beautiful in your hand, lighting, details really come alive.
I believe these are first edition prints ranging from 1836 to 2003 and cover ukiyo-e > shin hanga > sosaku hanga> the present day.
I hope the next entry will have a bit more content, until then, I hope you enjoy the selection!
Kawase Hasui, “Benten Shrine”, 1929Utagawa Kunisada “若菜姫 and 鳥山秋作 (Princess Wakana and Toriyama Akisaku)”, 1853Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “Rainy moon – Kojima Takanori”, from the series One hundred Aspects of the Moon, 1889Published by Isetatsu “Cat School”, Yanaka, TokyoKatsushika Hokusai, Mikiri no Fuji from 100 views of Mount Fuji series, 1836Katsuyuki Nishijima, “Fuzuki: Tea House in July” 1998Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “Minamoto no Yorimitsu Attacking a Ground Spider” from the Thirty-six Ghosts series, 1889-1892Hiroshi Yoshida, “Glipse of Ueno Park”, 1937Hiroshi Yoshida, “Court of the Lions, Alhambra”, 1928 or 1955Hiroshi Yoshida, “Kameido Bridge”, 1927Hiroshi Yoshida, “Plum Gateway”, 1935
Hiroshi Yoshida, “In a Temple Yard”, 1935Hiroshi Yoshida, “Himeji Castle”, 1928Toshi Yoshida, “Pagoda in Kyoto”, 1942Toshi Yoshida, “Pine of the Friendly Garden” 1980Toshi Yoshida, “Bamboo of the Friendly Garden” 1980Toshi Yoshida, “Myoko Hot Spring” 1955Kawase Hasui, “Lake Kugushi”, 1920Katsuyuki Nishijima, “Asahi (the Morning Sun)”, 1999Shoson (Kozon), “Wild Geese”, 1926 or 1946Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “Ishiyama Moon”, 1889Kiyoshi Saito, “Temple Gate”, 1955Paul Binnie, “Torii at Miyajima” 2003Gekko, “Calligraphy Performance at Flower Mountain”, 1897Kiyotada Torii, “Uwanari” From Kabuki 18 Famous Plays, 1896
