Paul Binnie Red Fuji - Mount Fuji from Lake Kawaguchi

Paul Binnie “Red Fuji - Mount Fuji from Lake Kawaguchi” artwork
I am delighted that my new woodblock print, Aka Fuji (Red Fuji), is nearing completion, and will be released during . This print, whose title is Aka Fuji, Kawaguchiko no Fujisan, is very much in the Shin Hanga style of the landscape artists of the inter-war years, such as Yoshida and Hasui, whose work I admire enormously. I have taken inspiration from the c.1830-32 Hokusai print, South Wind, Clear Dawn, (popularily known as Aka Fuji), one of his famous 36 Views of Mount Fuji, but have interpreted the idea in a purely contemporary, realist way, rather like my earlier landscape woodblocks. However this print is much more technically demanding than most of my previous landscapes, and uses twenty-two colours, as well as mica and embossing (blind-printing or gauffrage) to create a sense of the atmosphere of the first rays of the morning sun striking the mountain-side. The edition will be of 100 examples, as is usual with my dai-ōban-size woodblocks (42 x 29cm, 16 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches), and is printed on 100% mulberry washi from Iwate Prefecture in Japan. I have attached an illustration of the print to give you a general idea of how it looks, but please bear in mind that the actual colours of the print are richer and deeper than this image, while the mica and embossing do not show up in a photo as clearly as they do in reality. The print of Red Fuji will be available commercially for the usual price of $425, but for a limited period only I shall offer this print to collectors and friends for the lower price of $365, until the end of . In addition to this low price, I shall offer a free surimono-style koban print of Mount Fuji, printed in tones of pink and blue, for the first 50 orders I receive before the end of . This print will not be available commercially, and is therefore destined to be rare. I hope you will enjoy the woodblock of Red Fuji as much as I have in the planning, designing, carving and printing stages of the work, and I'd be happy to hear feedback from anyone about this new print.
Paul Binnie,
Artist
Paul Binnie
Title
Red Fuji - Mount Fuji from Lake Kawaguchi
Japanese title
Aka Fuji - Kawaguchi-ko no Fujisan 赤富士・河口湖の富士山
Series title
Famous Views of Japan
Japanese series title
Nihon meisho zu-e 日本名所図絵
Date
Medium
Colour woodblock print on paper
Paper dimensions (h × w)
42 × 29.4 cm
Image dimensions (h × w)
37.5 × 25.6 cm
Edition size
100
Carver
Paul Binnie
Printer
Paul Binnie
Subjects
Landscapes (Fūkei-ga 風景画)
Remarks
22 colours on 14 blocks (7 double-sided blocks)
Inspired by Hokusai's Red Fuji. Print has very similar composition to Hiroshi Yoshida's Lake Yamanaka and very similar colours to Toshi Yoshida's Kilimanjaro Morning.
95/100 has text and edition no. unusually in right margin.
References
The Making of Binnie's Red Fuji
Van den Ing, E (ed.) , Paul Binnie: A Dialogue with the Past, Art Media Resources, Chicago, p. 109
Catalogue number
72 (L114)
Supplementary images