PRESENTED is a collection of ten Japanese HIROSHIGE wood block prints from more than one collection from which to choose. Only seven are shown. This offering is for one print, and the buyer has his choice. They are comprised of a number of different land and seascapes.

 

Wood block printing is a respected art form that dates back to the 16th Century in Japan. Color wood block prints were introduced about 1770. The process is complicated and takes strict coordination between the artist, the wood block cutters, and the printer to achieve the desired result. One block is required for each color,and all must be registered as to placemat so as to assure no overlaps.

 

A Peaceful Beach Scene

Ever present Mt. Fuji

River Commerce

Edo Harbor

Fishing Boats

Fishing Scene

CONDITION: The condition of all these panels are excellent. They all are mounted on cardboard and at one time have been framed. The frames are not included. Seven are signed by the artist.

 

APPROXIMATE SIZE One Panel: 13 3/4" H x 8 3/4" W 

 

BUYER'S CHOICE:  These beautiful prints are being offered at $150.00 each.  After making your selection and adding the number of items to your cart, when we receive your payment, we will contact your directly to ascertain which printes you have chosen.  Obviously, these are being sold on a  "first come, first serve" basis.  If a print or prints that you have chosen are no longer available, and you do not have a second choice, we will happily refund your entire payment. 

Price for each Panel:  $150.00 each. ( includes domestic shipping to 48 contiguous states)

 
BRIEF HISTORY: In 1853, Commander Perry arrived in Tokyo Bay, then called Edo Bay, to successfully negotiate a treaty with Japan.

 

At Perry's time western knowledge of Japan's rich and varied culture was largely restricted to export porcelains and lacquers, made in a style largely Japanese, partly Chinese and partly European.  These pieces were exported from Nagasaki, by the Dutch East Indies Company which maintained a small trading station.

 

On Perry's arrival, Japanese woodblock  prints, were an old and common art form in Japan. Those of Hiroshige's landscapes and the more varied forms of the Utagawa School were on sale in the streets of Edo.  These Japanese  prints of this time were carried back to the western world by westerners.

 

Following the opening of Japan, Europeans began to visit in large numbers.  Books about Japan, such as Sir Rutherford Alcock's The Capital of the Tycoon (1863) appeared.  This was the first western book to discuss Japanese art.  Sir Rutherford's collection of prints formed part of the Japanese section of the International Exhibition in London in 1862. Similar books and articles in France contemporaneous with Sir Rutherford's work started the west's love affair with Japanese prints that carried on to this day.

 

The first Japanese woodblock prints were made at temples and given free to believers.  These prints were generally images of dieties or sections of sacred sutras.  In the home or shop, these prints took the place of paintings and calligraphy which were too expensive for the common people.

 

The school of art best known in the west is the Ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints. The Japanese concept of Ukiyo or the "floating world" came from Buddhism.  Buddhism thought that world joys are transient and that detachment from desire and craving would lead to understanding and enlightenment).  In Edo Japan, this concept was twisted to be that if material joys were fleeting why not enjoy them to the fullest.  The pictures(e) of these joys became Ukiyo-e, scenes of the floating world.  These were first created in paintings but soon were also printed as single-sheet woodblock prints.

 

The production of  these prints virtually ended by the year 1912.

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