Artist: Hiroshi Yoshida
Medium: Original Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: Sailing Boat - Junks
Edition: First
Date: c.1939
Publisher: The Artist - Privately Published
Reference No.: Japanese Wood-Block Printing, published by The Sanseido Company Ltd. (1939)
Size: 6 x 4 "
Condition: Very fine
Notes:
"A Junk" (Printing of a Junk) Process Set published around 1939 is a progressive proof set created to demonstrate the complex, multi-layered nature of traditional Japanese woodblock printmaking. The progressive set was originally distributed in the Hiroshi Yoshida's landmark 1939 book, Japanese Wood-Block Printing, published by The Sanseido Company Ltd.
The complete set breaks down a single artwork step-by-step, showing how separate woodblocks and color applications build upon one another to create a completed work. The standard commercial set released by the Yoshida Studio includes five progressive print sheets: Each sheet shows a different stage of color application and block layering. The margins of the trial prints feature block/color registration bars that document exactly which pigments and delicate shading techniques (bokashi) were applied. Prints numbered #4 and #5 in the sequence feature Hiroshi Yoshida's stamped signature.