Posted by John Fiorillo on June 02, 2001 at 21:07:28:
In Reply to: margins redux posted by wayland on June 02, 2001 at 11:58:27:
Wayland,
If 'shin hanga' margins are trimmed to or within the image, aesthetic and market values will definitely be affected; partial trimming of margins has less effect. Putting a general percentage value on trimming is impossible, as it depends on the extent of the trimming, the overall condition of the print, the rarity of the design or the particular state you might have of the design (if there is more than one), the popularity of the image or the artist, the existence of margin information, and so on.
Some collectors feel there is too much obsession about margins, especially if there is no information contained within them (such as artist, publisher, carver, or printer seals; copyright information; edition information; etc.). These collectors feel fine with their trimmed prints as long as the image is completely intact, and some believe there are bargains to be had when the price drops precipitously only because margins have been removed.
I sympathize with their viewpoint, although I would add that the original intention of the artist and publisher was to include margins in the vast majority of designs, so if they are removed you may have a slight imbalance in the remaining design. Whether that is significant is up to the individual collector, but certainly there are aesthetic judgments and market values attached to trimmed specimens that reflect the difference. It is interesting that the enormous quantities of ukiyo-e prints once saved in albums by the early Japanese collectors were frequently trimmed to standardize the size of the sheets within the album covers, yet after removal from the albums, many have now been “remargined” to satisfy the more modern aesthetic of collecting fully margined prints.
There is no one correct answer for all collectors on this issue. In principle, I would say that, just as with ukiyo-e, try to obtain the most perfectly preserved 'shin hanga' specimens you can find and afford. A fully preserved specimen is better than one that is trimmed, if only for the sake of completeness. If you decide to collect trimmed specimens of certain designs, that's fine, but please realize you might be paying less because you are getting a little less. Whether that matters a great deal is up to you. One cannot easily form a varied collection without some compromises - what form they take is up to the person building the collection. For example, there may be no perfect impressions left of a particular coveted design, so if you are to own one, it will have to be trimmed or faded or soiled or whatever. The important thing is to enjoy what you have (otherwise don’t buy it or keep it). We all sometimes forget that these works of art should primarily bring us pleasure from viewing them as well as insight into the aesthetics of Japanese art, regardless of whether they conform to the highest ideals of art connoisseurship.
John