Our Hanga Treasure Chest is now just over 1/4 full; I wonder if the selection of prints is anything like what you had expected to see! We haven't had any 'big name' designers yet, so perhaps it's time to include a print from somebody you will recognize.

Actually though, I'm not really sure if this print is by somebody you would recognize. Down through the years publishers of woodblock prints have frequently played fast and loose with design attributions, particularly in the early years of the 20th century, when print buyers from overseas were far less knowledgeable than they have since become. A publisher would know that a traditional landscape design may (or may not) sell well, but if he told his craftsmen to carve and print the name 'Hiroshige' onto it, then it would almost certainly sell more copies than without ... And as Hiroshige had been dead for many years, he wouldn't mind, would he ...

Katsushika Hokusai's name was another that frequently came in for such cavalier treatment; it is an endless headache for scholars to try and sort out which prints and paintings actually came from his brush, and which are imitations.

Some years ago, I found a few fish prints in a dealer's shop, and although they were said to be by Hokusai, well ... we'll never really know for sure.

One day next week we'll be celebrating 'Boy's Day', and as the Japanese carp is a traditional symbol of that festival, I thought I would use one of those fish designs I found. But it's not just the old-time publishers who could 'adapt' designs they came across - as there are of course no longer any copyrights applying to such old work, I too am free to borrow and re-arrange things as I see fit. So I 'transplanted' the carp from the bed of water plants that he was nestled in, floated him in space to give a bit of the feel of the 'koi-nobori' streamers we see around Boy's Day, and then added a background of sumi-nagashi pattern, just for fun.

But I think I'll leave Hokusai's name off, as I doubt there is much of his work still visible, if any!

David
Monday, April 25, 2005

(Here's the print in context in the Treasure Chest series.)

Posted by Dave Bull at 8:58 PM | Comments (6)

And now - as they say - for something completely different! This image dates from Showa 11 (1936), and is taken from a beautiful book published that year with a title that might be translated as 'Thinking About New Patterns', containing patterns designed by Hakamada Sekka.

I was very lucky to get this book. My friend the young printer 'S.U.' has a sort of 'side business' buying and selling woodblock related items; he found this book in a dealer's stock, bought it, and was planning to sell it on an internet auction. When I saw a couple of the images he had posted on-line though, I jumped up and down, "You can't sell this one that way! I need this for my work!"

So a couple of days later, the book arrived in my mailbox, and I had a chance to study it carefully. Unlike most pattern books, this one does not seem to be specifically aimed at providing ideas for craftsmen in any particular genre - kimono design, pottery, etc. - but seems rather to have been aimed at a general readership. I say 'readership', but there is not a word of text in the entire volume; simply we see page after page of beautifully executed designs, laid out in absolutely perfect arrangements, and all conceived in a most 'playful' style.

I had previously selected some other design for this spot in the Hanga Treasure Chest, but once I had this book in my hands I just couldn't resist making a last minute switch for the image you see here (this all happened just a couple of weeks ago). I remember now that I haven't even paid for the book yet - I have been too busy putting it to use! So I had better take care of that unfinished business, and will also let him know - strongly - that when he finds other attractive and interesting items like this, don't even think about selling them to somebody else!

After all, I - and through me, you collectors - have an insatiable appetite for interesting designs!

David
Monday, April 11, 2005

(Here's the print in context in the Treasure Chest series.)

Posted by Dave Bull at 8:53 PM | Comments (0)