Japanese wood block prints

One of the fascinating things about collecting art is the different media artists use to express themselves. We have become very fond of different types of prints that artists have created from lino to etchings and screen to woodblock or woodcut prints. Japanese artists have a tradition of woodblock printing and we have collected several from different periods. The oldest is from the late 19th century by Toshikata and is a hand-coloured print called 'A spring walk' from a series entitled 36 elegant beauties. 

Toshikata

The picture is quite delicate as often the prints were on very fine paper like rice paper but the colours that are hand painted remain really vivid and stand out against the black and white background. 

The Heron Girl by Suzuki Harunobu is an example of Nishiki-e, which is multi-coloured woodblock printing. Previously printing was in black and white with hand colouring but this new method saw woodblocks developed for each colour that allowed them to be overlaid.

   

Heron Girl bySuzuki Harunobu

Although the artist created the image in the 18th century this print is more recent however it is unclear when it was created as woodblocks are often re-carved from time to time with a series printed. Nevertheless the colours in this print are stand out and true to his original intention particularly the use of red that characterises his work.