Artist: Paul Jacoulet
Medium: Original Limited Edition Japanese Woodblock Print and Key block
Series Title: Korea Series
Edition: #154/350
Date: 1940
Publisher: The Artist - Privately Published
Reference No.: Miles #66
Size: 18 -3/4 x 14 "
Condition: Very fine.
Notes:
Signed by the artist in the lower right. Butterfly seal. Printed on the artist's paper watermarked on the left with the artist's initials, above "PJ", and below in Japanese. Carver Maeda Kentaro. Printer Honda Tetsunosuke. Sections of the metal ornament of the wardrobe and the rose-colored garment are embossed. According to Miles catalog: Edition number 350, fewer than 150 impressions pulled.
This classic portrait of a happy and content mother and child was one of best received prints by Jacoulet. The key block shows the incredibly minute and precise carving of eyebrows and eyelashes by the virtuoso carver Maeda. The border between the blue part of the child's head and the white face is skillfully printed by master printer Honda who used subtle "bokashi" shading and was able to render the delicate pressure mark on the child's forehead. More than 300 impressions were sold pre-war, at approximately $15.00 a print, when that was a considerable amount. At around 1965-70, that same work brought $4,000 or the entire cost of the original edition.