I was reading Patty's review of Hermès's Iris Ukiyoe at Perfume Posse, and naturally thought of... ukiyoe!
This is my favorite ukiyoe print: Seba from The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido by Hiroshige (click to enlarge). I have a copy of this print, framed, although it is still not hanging. I bought the print at the Ukiyoe Museum in Matsumoto. The man in the store claimed they made it using Hiroshige's original wood block. However, if you compare my copy with this one, or ones from the Japanese National Museum, the lines aren't as fine in the grass, so I think the salesman was fibbing. Still, I love the loneliness of the scene. The location is in Nagano-ken.
I took this image from an excellent site with copies of Hiroshige, The Woodblock Prints of Ando Hiroshige. Coincidentally, this site uses Seba as the image on its home page.
4 comments:
I do like wood block prints very much, Japanese and other. This one is indeed peaceful...get it up on the wall! (exclaimed in a peaceful way...)
I am trying to play a mind game and reconcile this with Iris Ukiyoe. So far, I keep coming back to the point where the blue meets the green. There is that nearly clashing note of (what? kind of sweet, kind of cloying, never entirely either) in Iris Ookie. At least so far. Still working my decant.
I'll get it up one of these days.... lol. I also have a copy of the print in the Merry Christmas post, though unframed (as well as a couple others). I tend to like the landscapes.
I still haven't tried the Iris Ukiyoe.... I'm in Japan (Nagoya) at the moment. Maybe they have it here? I doubt Hermes here gives out samples, though. Will have to wait till I get home. Clashing notes? Maybe JCE was trying for more of the Kabuki actor/shadier aspects of the floating world...
...maybe the dangerous elements of true/false beauty?
I still need to try it.
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