Kono Bairei’s two-panel woodcut

Kono Bairei’s two-panel woodcut 

Kono Naotoyo Bairei (Aliases: Choando; Hoppo; Kakurokuen; Kinsen Charryo; Koun Shinsho; Kumo no Ie; Musei Shioku; Nyoi Shansho; Rokuryu; Sanshu Kashitsu; Seika Zembo; Seiryukan; Shijun; Shumpuro; Zaigoan) (1844–95)

“Bird at a Stream” (descriptive title only) (diptych), 1890

from ehon [book], Bairei Hyakucho Gafu Zokuhen [Album of 100 birds], 1890

colour woodcut

(each sheet) 24.7 x 16.6 cm

Condition: both panels are crisp impressions and the paper is in good condition (considering the age of the prints). The right panel has two dot specks in the margin. Each of the two panels has four pin holes from their original binding.

I am selling both prints (i.e. the two panels of the diptych) for a total cost of [deleted] at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing these original woodcut prints by Kono Bairei, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

I can imagine that some viewers—hopefully not too many—would prefer to see the wonderful two-panel woodcuts by Bairei trimmed, glued and abutted so that the two panels can be seen as a single uninterrupted image (as shown in my digital abutment above). Often in the marketplace Bairei's prints—like this fine pair—are merged with glue to satisfy such a desire. For me, however, the trimming and gluing of Bairei’s prints is a shame, as they were originally designed to be two facing pages in a bound book that, when opened, would appear as a single image.

From my standpoint, the borderlines separating a viewer’s reading of the two panels is not a significant hurdle impacting upon looking at the prints. In fact, I believe that the borderlines may even help to articulate a viewer’s reading, in the sense that the visual interruption posed by the borderlines helps to slow down a viewer’s reading.