Posted by Dave Bull on November 01, 1998 at 21:00:22:
In Reply to: Re: Individualism and Ukiyo-e posted by John Fiorillo on October 31, 1998 at 14:01:28:
John wrote:
: Hello, David,
: What I was concerned about in my earlier comments was erring too much
: in either direction, that is, assigning too much credit to either the artist
: or the artisans when we all should recognize the collaborative nature of
: woodblock printing.
What we need is for someone to come along and write a well-balanced book that delves deeply into this topic of the collaborative process. I am far too much tilted to one side to be that person. John, maybe you're the man to do this? Or are you perhaps too much on the 'other' side? Boy I'd love to read it!
: I would partly modify, however, your statement about the "fluid" brush
: strokes you cite in woodblock prints. While it is true that master carvers and
: printers could achieve amazing results in translating the nature of the Japanese
: brushed line into woodblock prints, the lines in block prints typically did not match
: the fluidity of the brushed line and were in many, if not most, cases rather rigid in
: comparison.
Hmmm... Again, I have perhaps an extreme view of this. I've spent the past ten years carving some of the most fluid Japanese calligraphy into hard cherrywood blocks. Maybe I've succeed, and maybe I've failed, but I certainly hope that 'rigid' is not the term that describes what I've been doing! And judging from the comments that I receive from collectors of my prints, many of whom buy them specifically because they love calligraphy, I'm perhaps not too far off ... Here's an example. Rigid? Fluid?
: lines in the drawings possessed a calligraphic, slightly uneven, and more lively
: quality than did the carved block lines, which were quite uniform and had the
: appearance of "banded wires" rather than brushed lines.
This next example is not from my own work, but from a Meiji-era print. 'translating the nature of the Japanese brushed line into woodblock prints ...' Yes!
Dave Bull
P.S. Note for John Fiorillo, DJM, and Gary: I'd like to transcribe some of this discussion into the Encyclopedia, where it will remain easily accessible to interested readers for a long time (and where it could be expanded). Can you contact me by email please to discuss this possibility? Thanks! (davebull@woodblock.com)