Japanese wood block prints

I have a fondness for Japanese woodblock prints. I have always been fascinated by how lacking in wood grain they end up being. They could be linoleum block prints, but that seems so un-Japanese.

Years ago, I took a yoga class in someone's home. She had this print hanging in her stairwell. One day it was gone and another print was in its place. I asked what had happened to it, because I loved looking at it, and she said she had decided to take it down. And then she offered it to me. Even though it has lots of foxing and a big fold line down the center, I had it re-framed and hung it in my living room. I even painted the wall to match the blue.

It turns out that it is a Hiroshige print, though how old, I have not determined.

My parents had always had several Japanese woodblock prints in their house that I have always coveted. Now, after all these years, they are in my possession. They all need serious re-framing but I want to get them looked at by someone that knows something about them first. This one is definitely a Hiroshige also.

And I'm pretty sure this one is also, but I have no idea what generation these prints are, whether old and original or 19th-century re-prints.

As for this print, I still haven't figured out who the artist is. But I keep looking. I thought it might be Hashiguchi but I do not know for sure.

Here is a photograph I took that reminds me of the first print.

It's from a weekend on the Chesapeake Bay.

Previous
Previous

Drawing more

Next
Next

In the clearing