Did Hokusai intend for these 12 rare drawings to become woodblock prints?
In short: Woodblock printmaker Dave Bull and scientist Capucine Korenberg investigate a series of unpublished Hokusai drawings. By attempting to reconstruct the final prints from The Great Picture Book of Everything, they explore whether these surviving sketches were meant for the chisel or served merely as reference material.
The Great Picture Book of Everything, or Banmotsu ehon daizen zu, remains an enigma in the Ukiyo-e tradition. Typically, the process of creating such a book required carving directly through the artist's original drawings to produce the woodblocks, effectively destroying the source art in the process. Because this specific book was never published, the original drawings survived, leaving experts to question their original purpose.
To solve this mystery, Dave Bull and Capucine Korenberg selected 12 drawings to painstakingly recreate the intended final pages. This project bridges the gap between historical art and modern technical analysis, testing the physical feasibility of the drawings as templates for woodblock production.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Recreating Hokusai's Drawings as Woodblock Prints | Hokusai Reborn | Dave Bull + Capucine Korenberg
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