"Japanesque" at the legion of honor.

[duccio]

A show of Japanese printmaking and it's influence on western printmakers. The show was extensive and very special. Photos were not allowed, but we found a small darkly lit room outside of the exhibition with woodblock printed Japanese books all featuring Mt. Fuji views. There were about 25 of them from the museum's own collection. Here are two:

Wave.


Seeing this work in person is an amazingly tactile visual experience. The paper is very sensual looking, and the printing makes use of embossing, subtle raising and stippling effects, split fountain, stencil blocking, and an order of printing the blocks in some of the Hiroshige woodcut prints that defied my attempts at analysis. It seems that attempts at streamlining the production of these prints were unknown to these artists, and instead, every effort imaginable was utilized to increase the richness and quality. It is simply amazing to behold. These photos here show nothing at all of the several small miracles that we saw today.

Kimono.


Outside, the Golden Gate Bridge.

Comments

[shinsetsu]

:)

I like your photo of the Golden Gate.

[duccio]

It was almost dark when we left the museum, and we decided to take a short walk to refresh ourselves before driving to San Rafael (over the Bridge). The shutter speed was very slow because of the darkness so there was some camera movement, but I thought the result looked like some of the prints we had seen. So! Thanks.