May 13, 2008

Traditional Japanese Printmaking

For more info into the artist check this website:
http://bs.doshisha.ac.jp/kakushin/shokunin_e/int/int_harada.html

or for the list of shokunin:
http://bs.doshisha.ac.jp/kakushin/shokunin_e/index.html

Posted by Julio at 02:03 AM | Comments (0)

April 26, 2006

Hideo Nishiyama

This print is from Hideo Nishiyama's rarely seen series of the national parks, "Yoshino Kumano Kokuritsu koen" (Yoshino Kumano National Park). Tourist boat excursion landing at the Kumano river.
The carver Nagashima, printer Shinmi. Published in 1960.

The original artwork was obviously a crayon sketch. It is astounding how well the carver and printer have worked to recreate the layered crayon texture. I cannot imagine how this might be done. Each pass of the crayon can be seen sitting atop of the one underneath. The rough texture of the crayon on the paper is also rendered perfectly. The surface of this print is quite smooth and the back shows baren marks. It is a woodblock print.

Click on the thumbnail for a closer view

Posted by Tom Kristensen at 08:55 PM | Comments (3)

July 08, 2005

Eiichi Kotozuka print style

Another beautiful Sosaku Hanga print, this time from Kyoto artist Eiichi Kotozuka (1906-1979). A lizard emerges from under a cucumber vine. Click on the image to see a larger version.

This oban sized print is dated 1936 and belongs to the series; "Hana Goju Dai no Uchi", Fifty Flowers, designed by a number of Kyoto artists and published by Unsodo. The blocks for this print were carved by Kotozuka, but printing may have been arranged by the publisher, who probably kept ownership of the blocks. All prints from this series carry the geometric border and were sold in a presentation folder.

With this series the artists were keen to demonstrate the new expressive Sosaku Hanga techniques. in this print the bare paper of the composition is well suited to feature the organic mottled print textures. To achieve this atenashi effect the block and washi paper are quite damp and the baren is used sparingly. The leaves and tendrils are printed from three blocks using three tones of the same blue-grey ink. The ink has been diluted with water, and printed without any starch. The darkest tones of blue were reprinted to give accent to the linework. The buttery yellow flowers and red highlights give a little extra spark to the design.

Kotozuka went on to do landscapes and more designs of plants. He is probably best known for his bamboo and cherry designs for Uchida, which continue to be reprinted. More designs can be seen if you follow this link:

artelino archives

Posted by Tom Kristensen at 09:44 PM | Comments (2)

July 04, 2005

Okiie Hashimoto print style

I would like to share this beautiful little print and try to uncover some of the techniques used in it. If you click on the thumbnail you can see an image that is close to actual size.


The print was issued in 1975 with a small German museum catalogue in an edition of 1000. Hashimoto (1899-93) was 75 and still going strong. He has a free flowing carving style and here he makes his 7 blocks in a rather relaxed manner. Small irregularities remain where they add to the feel of the print. The colours overlap generously. he uses a watery ink, probably without starch, to get his neutral tones. The brown on the temple roof may have been wiped from the block to show the grain of the block. The grey sumi is very soft with a nice ito-bokashi along the bottom of the brick work seen in the white wall. The black ink is printed over the colour in most parts, with only the red partly removed, it also has mica added to give just the occasional glimmer of light. The colour is superbly balanced, with beautiful vibrant shades nestled in with the black.

Any other comments about this print, or the Hashimoto style?
Tom

Posted by Tom Kristensen at 06:25 PM | Comments (3)