Posted by Darrel on May 25, 1997 at 03:47:20:
In Reply to: Re: Originals vs Copies posted by yasuko on May 24, 1997 at 19:24:18:
I'm not sure there is any meaningful different between a restrike and a reprint. Perhaps someone else can shed some light on your question.
Surimono are deluxe woodblock prints which were typically privately commissioned by Japanese poetry clubs to give out as New Year's gifts. They are unique in that they were a collaboration between the print artist and a kyoka poet. Kyoka, known as "mad" verse, was a 31 syllable comic poetic form usually redolent with puns, historical allusions, and/or New Year's symbolism. Since the kyoka was written first (in very stylized calligraphy), the print artist generally used the poem as a source of inspiration for the print design. Seasonal imagery, like pine and bamboo, is frequently incorporated into the design. A precursor to surimono was egoymi, or calendar prints. Egoyomi conveyed in pictorial form the long and short months of the Japanese calander, or sometimes only a reference to the zodiac year by including the image of a rabbit, monkey, ox, etc., in the print. The zodiac imagery often appears in the surimono prints as well, which provides a useful way to date the prints. Since they were privately commissioned, they were not required to list the publisher's name, to show the date of printing, or contain censor seals.
Being privately commissioned, the prints were issued in very limited editions (I've seen reference to 20-40 prints, but nobody knows for sure). Most tend to be deluxe prints, printed with great care on high quality thick paper, frequently using metallic pigments, mother-of-pearl, mica, embossing, hand-wiping, and other specialize printing techniques. If properly preserved, they are exquisite prints whose splendor, unfortunately, does not really come through from images in a book. Another key aspect of surimono is size. The most common surimono size, at least for later surimono prints, is what is known as the "square" or shikishiban surimono size, approximately 21 cm x 19 cm. Other common sizes is the koban rectangle, about 14 cm x 18 cm, and "long" yokonagaban surimono, about 21 cm x 56 cm. Virtually all of the major print artists produced some surimono, and certain other artists such as Gatukei and Hokkei are known primarily for their surimono prints. Unfortunately, the relatively small numbers made means that such prints are not as plentiful and tend to be hard to find, especially those in good condition. For some reasons, surimono have never been as popular among print collectors in the United States as they have been in Europe or Japan, so they are even harder to find here than than abroad. There is not a lot of literature available in English on the subject of surimono, and most is out of print. However, one the best (and most attractive) books on the subject was published about a year ago and is still in print. It is "The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono" by Joan B. Mirviss, with kyoka translations by John T. Carpenter, published by Weatherhill. I highly recommend it.
Darrel C. Karl
darrel@erols.com