Most of My Woodblock Print Collection

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”, 1929
Utagawa Kunisada “若菜姫 and 鳥山秋作 (Princess Wakana and Toriyama Akisaku)”, 1853
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “Rainy moon – Kojima Takanori”, from the series One hundred Aspects of the Moon, 1889
Published by Isetatsu “Cat School”, Yanaka, Tokyo
Katsushika Hokusai, Mikiri no Fuji from 100 views of Mount Fuji series, 1836
Katsuyuki Nishijima, “Fuzuki: Tea House in July” 1998
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “Minamoto no Yorimitsu Attacking a Ground Spider” from the Thirty-six Ghosts series, 1889-1892
Hiroshi Yoshida, “Glipse of Ueno Park”, 1937
Hiroshi Yoshida, “Court of the Lions, Alhambra”, 1928 or 1955
Hiroshi Yoshida, “Kameido Bridge”, 1927
Hiroshi Yoshida, “Plum Gateway”, 1935

 

Hiroshi Yoshida, “In a Temple Yard”, 1935
Hiroshi Yoshida, “Himeji Castle”, 1928
Toshi Yoshida, “Pagoda in Kyoto”, 1942
Toshi Yoshida, “Pine of the Friendly Garden” 1980
Toshi Yoshida, “Bamboo of the Friendly Garden” 1980
Toshi Yoshida, “Myoko Hot Spring” 1955
Kawase Hasui, “Lake Kugushi”, 1920
Katsuyuki Nishijima, “Asahi (the Morning Sun)”, 1999
Shoson (Kozon), “Wild Geese”, 1926 or 1946
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, “Ishiyama Moon”, 1889
Kiyoshi Saito, “Temple Gate”, 1955
Paul Binnie, “Torii at Miyajima” 2003
Gekko, “Calligraphy Performance at Flower Mountain”, 1897
Kiyotada Torii, “Uwanari” From Kabuki 18 Famous Plays, 1896