"Winter in Aizu" by Kiyoshi Saito The Saito print above was on the wall of the bedroom I slept in this weekend at my friend Julie's mother's Manhatten apartment. Julie's stepfather spent quite a few years in Japan after the war and he brought back many books and woodblock prints. Most of the prints were ukioe and shin hanga prints, which I'm not very well educated in. There were 10 snow scenes lining the dining room walls, 6 or 7 prints in the living room, and several sosaku prints in the bedrooms. Whenever we weren't at museums or restaurants I was staring at these prints.
As if that weren't exciting enough, Julie's mother got out a huge stack of books for me on Saturday afternoon.
Among the books were two woodblock demo books, one from the famous Watanabe shin hanga publisher:
Another book showed the stages of a larger more complex print:
Looking through the books felt like a treasure hunt. Many thanks to Julie and Arlyne for hosting us!
5 comments:
Oh my! what a feast of printmaking!
indeed a feast, I'd have been so happy! Julie's Mom would have regretted her sharing, I'd have ignored all engrossed in the looking at these treasures!
Hi Annie,
I'm not usually into frames, but the rounded corners on the Hasui print are very cool. The Aizu snow scene is not one I have seen before.
Tom, I wish you had been with me to help identify the prints, as Julie's mother expected me to appraise them for her and was disappointed that I know so little about shin hanga. But I knew Saito and Hashimoto at first glance!
Cin, yes I'm afraid I got very antisocial once that pile of books was put in front of me.
I came across your blog randomly but my mom loves Japanese art, especially the wood blocking. What a great place for an education on such an enduring art form!
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