Posted by John Fiorillo on November 10, 1997 at 20:04:15:
In Reply to: Breaking books posted by Dick Illing on October 28, 1997 at 03:11:46:
: I suppose that those of us lucky enough to have decent copies of Hokusai's '100 views of Fuji' should welcome those who break them up an sell individual sheets as it makes those left rarer and more valuable. However the purist must protest at an act of apparent vandalism. I can understand the financial attraction, given the prices being obtained for the single pages. Comments please!
COMMENT: Gary Gelston’s thoughtful response to Dr. Illing’s discussion on the issue of breaking up traditionally bound Japanese woodblock printed books such as the “100 Views of Mt. Fuji” includes some useful insights but also might confuse the casual reader with regard to “albums” versus “books.” Albums, whether issued originally as such or compiled later, typically represent separate (though often related) images, whereas books represent illustrations with or without accompanying text bound together into one or more integrated volume. Thus an album of mounted single-sheet prints is one thing, but an illustrated book is another, and the two types of bound illustrations should not be confused. For example, Japanese books were often much more than “simply a convenient way to organize and display printed material in the 19th century” as Mr. Gelston writes about albums of Hiroshige Tokaido prints - rather, books were integrated works of art in their own right in which printed designs were located in logical or aesthetic sequences that were at least partly influenced by the centuries-old tradition of painted Japanese picture scrolls. Although it is undoubtedly true as Mr. Gelston writes that “the demand is great and the opportunities to purchase are few,” one must guard against increasing the opportunities for dealers and collectors while at the same time diminishing the opportunities for experiencing the integrity of the originals. Mr. Gelston also states that “in the 20th century, Japanese prints were elevated to fine art and the most popular way to display fine prints is mounted in frames.” This is a Western view toward the displaying of art, not a traditional Eastern view, and as such is debatable. In brief, even when there appears to be no strong correlation among printed designs in a book, we deny the original experience of viewing the book illustrations “in situ” when we tear the books apart and sell off separate images isolated from their original contexts. One might, however, argue differently for single-sheets compiled into albums, for they were typically (though not always!) intended originally to be appreciated as separate images.