Cadwallader Washburn: The Russo-Japanese War Years

Self-Portrait (1905) by Cadwallader Washburn

Finished State, Third Impression 

Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

(etching)

In my prior post, I outlined Cadwallader Lincoln Washburn's artistic career and his 1917-1918 sojourn to Bangkok.  Here, I'd like to backtrack to discuss his 1904 trip to Japan, which resulted in some of Washburn's earliest etchings, preceded only by a limited number of etchings of Venice and Cuba.  In fact, Washburn was still in Cuba when war broke out between Russia and Japan.  His brother Stanley sent him a cable from Vancouver suggesting that Cadwallader join him in Japan to cover the war for one of the Chicago papers.  Japan was very much on Washburn's mind at the time, as he had recently read with interest Edwin Arnold's Japonica that had been serialized in Scribner's Magazine with illustrations by Robert Frederick Blum.  He had also studied Whistler's work, and no doubt had acquired a taste for Japonisme.  In the end, due to a Canadian blizzard and mislaid luggage, Washburn missed the next monthly boat from Vancouver to Japan and didn't arrive in Tokyo until late April 1904.

News of Russo-Japanese Battles: For the Fourth Time Our Destroyers Bravely Attack

Enemy Ships Outside the Harbor of Port Arthur (March 1904) by Migita Toshihide

Courtesy of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

(woodblock print tryiptch)

Finding that his brother who had already departed on a dispatch boat to report upon the war, Washburn joined a gaggle of other war correspondents who were holed up at the Imperial Hotel waiting in vain for permission from the Japanese Government to go out to the front.  While in Tokyo, Washburn met Helen Hyde and toured the Mikado's art advisor's important collection of Japanese screens.   His earliest etchings of Tokyo are dated June 1904.

Self-Portrait (1905) by Cadwallader Washburn

 Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

(drypoint)

By early July 1904, Washburn embarked on what would turn out to be a very productive trip spent sketching and scratching plates in Kyoto.  Thanks to a letter of introduction to the Emperor of Japan from Sir William Van Horne, President of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Emperor offered him quarters in a Buddhist Temple in Kyoto for three months with a priest in attendance, an honor never before accorded a foreigner.  (The address on a September 12th letter reveals that it was the Hokoji Temple, Daibutsu.)  There, he made his first drypoint using a ordinary sewing needle of the guardian priest.  A born actor and pantomimist supreme, Washburn was invited to join the Emperor's Royal Players, where he learned Japanese dances and performed with masks, some of which he made himself.  Later dated etchings reveal that Washburn took side trips to Nara and Uji in early September.

 Buddhist Priest (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco

(drypoint)

Eventually, Washburn received word from his brother that he had left his dispatch boat and suggested that Cadwallader join him in Yokohama.  Stanley was planning to join the Third Army under General Nogi, which was heading to Manchuria to capture Port Arthur, and he hoped to be the first to cable news of the fall of Port Arthur to his own paper, the Chicago Daily News.  The plan was for Cadwallader to await word from Stanley in Newchwang, and then to relay news back to Chicago in an agreed upon code that would avoid the suspicion of the censors.  Unable to secure passage from Japan to Newchwang directly, Washburn traveled to Shanghai in mid-October and spent a couple weeks trying to locate a ship carrying contraband that would be willing to take him through hostile territory fraught with mined waters.  By late October, Washburn was ensconced at the American Consulate in Newchwang awaiting word from his brother.
 

Our Forces Advance Fiercely to Attack Port Arthur from the Rear (October 15, 1904) 

by Toyokawa Yoshikuni

Courtesy of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

(woodblock print triptych)

On November 5th, Stanley notified Cadwallader that General Nogi was getting ready to launch another offensive to capture Port Arthur.  Cadwallader sailed immediately to Chefoo and chartered a boat there to take him to Rund Island, about 18 miles away from Danly, where a newspaper friend of Stanley's in Danly would relay Stanley's account of the battle to Cadwallader.  This trip ended up being for nought and the plan scrapped when Stanley became temporarily blinded by some type of infectious disease and was shipped off to recuperate a military hospital in Japan.   (As it turned out, after a series of Japanese offensives and Russian counterattacks, the Japanese did not succeed in occupying the strategic 203-Meter Hill, the highest point of elevation within Port Arthur until December 5th.  From that hill, the Japanese army shelled and destroyed the Russian Pacific Fleet, forcing the Russians to eventually surrender control of Port Arthur on January 5, 1905.)

Great Battle for the Occupation of the 203-Meter Hill (1905) by Kobayashi Kiyochika

Courtesy of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

(woodblock print triptych)

By Thanksgiving Day, a new plan had been devised by the Washburn brothers.  Russia's Baltic Fleet had been dispatched to provide support to its Pacific Fleet, but its present whereabouts were unknown.  Stanley received directions from his paper to travel to the Indian Ocean to try to locate it.  The plan was for the pair to split up after Singapore to double their chances, with Stanley going to Madagascar and Cadwallader to Borneo to begin their search.  However, a rumor of mysterious vessel sent the Washburns towards Sumatra, where they encountered and reported the presence of two Japanese cruisers, part of Admiral Togo's fleet that also had been secretly dispatched to locate the missing Baltic Fleet, their first real "scoop."  The Singapore Times sent Washburn lithograph paper and pencil for him to draw from a memory a sketch of one of the cruisers and its commander.

Picture of the Imperial Army Landing from the Rear and 

Capturing Port Arthur (1904) by Ohara Koson

Courtesy of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

(woodblock print triptych)

From there, the Washburns left on a German steamer for Port Said.  As they finally entered the Suez Canal they saw Admiral Nabogaiof's Russian squadron emerging, intending to join up with Admiral Rodjestvenski's ships which had sailed around the Cape of Good good.  This was the Washburn's second journalistic "scoop."  (The two Russian fleets would eventually combine and be soundly beaten by Togo's fleet in late May 1905 in the Battle of Tsushima.)   Thereafter, the pair split up in Naples, with Stanley going to Sebastopol to report on a revolution going on there and Cadwallader heading to Paris.  At this point in time, Washburn was still employing a professional to pull his prints.  He used a man named Post who had pulled for Whistler to print etchings from his Japanese plates.  As can be seen below, many of Washburn's Japanese etchings show a definite Whistlerian influence.

Naval Battle in the Japan Sea (c. May 27, 1905) by Getsuzô

Courtesy of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

(woodblock print triptych)

Compiling a list of Washburn's Japanese etchings has not been an easy task, as there is not as yet any authoritative catalog raisonné of Washburn’s 975 prints.  The whereabouts of many designs are not currently known (no doubt due to Washburn's tiny editions) and, with the notable exception of the Achenbach Foundation's extensive Washburn collection at the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, few museums have digitized images of their Washburn prints.  Virtually the only publication on the subject appears to be an Albert Roullier's Art Galleries' 1913 catalogue that lists the titles and plate sizes of 26 prints in Washburn's "Japanese Series."   (Prices for Washburn's Japanese prints in that catalogue ranged from $14.00 to $50.00.)  Unfortunately, none of Washburn's Japanese prints are illustrated in that catalogue.  Among the Washburn papers at Gallaudet University is a typed page listing the titles and plate sizes of 28 Japanese etchings, as well as the number of "prints listed" and "prints pulled" for each design.  There is no indication who authored the list, whether it was by some Washburn print collector who consulted with Washburn or by Washburn himself.  The collector could have been Dr. Thomas Sprinkle, an engineering professor at CSUN, whose collection of Washburn material was given to the Gallaudet University Archives via Dr. I. King Jordan in 1996.  The Gallaudet University Archives also include a typed sheet of unknown authorship that actually describes the specific scenes depicted in 14 prints from the Japanese Series, as well as several typed pages containing information about Washburn's prints found in a handful of museum collections.  

Unfortunately, the information found in these materials is occasionally inconsistent and sometimes erroneous, and it appears that some of the titles are entirely descriptive and unofficial because they are frequently contradicted by Washburn's own inscriptions on known prints.  The following list is my best attempt to synthesize this material into a cohesive whole, but some errors no doubt remain.  Where alternate titles or plate sizes have been reported, they are listed in brackets.  (I have no idea what "Prints Listed"  is intended to represent.  It could mean the number of copies found in museum collections, but that is just a guess.)

01 Iris Garden, Honkiri [Iris Gardens, Honkiki], 4-5/8” x 6¾” [4½” x 6¾”], 1 print listed; 4 prints pulled; Roullier’s #17.

Note:  "Several irises are seen near foreground, serving to suggest hundred other scattered in garden, by means of generalization."  In a letter dated June 7, 1904, Washburn said he "[t]ook a drive to Horikiki yesterday to witness the marvelous iris gardens.  I cannot express my enthusiasm over the general coloring of the place.   What wonderful flowers.  I am going to paint there in a few days when the gardens and flowers reach the height of their glory."

02 By The Sumida River, Kyoto; inscribed Aug. 31, 1904; 3½” x 5½” [3½” x 5¼”; 3” x 5 7/16” (7.62 x 13.81 cm); 3-3/8" x 5-5/8"]; 2 prints listed; 10 prints pulled; Roullier’s #5; Portland Art Museum has a copy.

 

 By the Sumida River, Kyoto (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn
Courtesy of the Portland Art Museum
(etching)

Note:  Although the inscription date of this etching is consistent with Washburn being in Kyoto, the Sumida River is in Tokyo, causing confusion as to what river is actually depicted in this etching.  Some materials refer to this print as "By the Sunida River, Kyoto" or "By the Serrida River, Kyoto."

03 Bridge at Ujii [Bridge at Uji], 2-15/16” x 5½” [3” x 5¼”]; 2 prints listed; 12 prints pulled; Roullier’s #21.

04 Steps Leading to a Temple [Steps Leading to Temple]; inscribed NARA Sept. 4, 1904; 3½” x 5½” [3-5/16 x 5-5/16]; 1 print listed; 5 prints pulled; printed in brownish ink; New York Public Library (NYPL) has a copy.

05 Native Restaurant [Native Restaurant, Kyoto], 3½” x 5½” [3-7/16” x 5½”; 3½ " x 5-3/8"]; 2 prints listed; 5 prints pulled; Roullier’s #1; Gallaudet and the Metropolitan Museum of New York have copies.

 

 Native Restaurant (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives
(etching)

Note:  Two other documents in the Gallaudet University Archives says that there were 12 proofs made.  It is also possible that the various references confuse this design with #44 (or that they refer to the very same print).

06 Temple in Kitano [Temple at Kitano; Temple of Kitano; A Temple at Kitano, Kyoto], inscribed Kitano Aug. 20[?}th, 1904; 9¾” x 6¾” [9¾” x 6½”; 24.7 cm x 16.9 cm; 9-5/8” x 6-11/16” (24.45 x 16.99 cm)]; 1 print listed; 12 prints pulled; Roullier’s #19; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco (FAMSF) has a copy.

 

 Temple at Kitano (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn
Courtesy of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco
(etching)

Note:  First proof printed by M. Fort in Paris.

07 Riverside, Kyoto; inscribed Kyoto, July 1904; 2-15/16” x 5-17/16”; 1 print listed; 10 prints pulled; Gallaudet has a copy.

 

Riverside, Kyoto (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn 
Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives
(etching)

08 Stone Buddha, 4-7/16” x 6”; 1 print listed.
Note: "'Stone Buddha' resting on  lotus wrought in bronze.  Very beautiful small print."

09 By the River Ujii [By the River Uji; By the River of Ujii]; inscribed Uji, Sept. 10th, 1904; 3¾” x 5-1/8” [9.5 cm x 13.2 cm; 9.4 cm x 13.2 cm; 3-5/8" x 5-1/8"]; 1 print listed; edition of 12; Roullier’s #20; FAMSF and the Library of Congress have copies.

By the River, Uji (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn
Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
(etching)

10 Creek in Woods, Kyoto [Creek in the Woods, Kyoto]; 5-1/8” x 3-5/8” [5¼” x 3-5/8”]; 1 print listed; 6 prints pulled; Roullier’s #4.

11 Temple in Kyoto, 4-3/8” x 5-15/16”; 1 print listed; 5 prints pulled.

12 Decorated Street, Kyoto; 5¼" x 3-3/8"; 1 print listed.

13 Buddhist Temple [Buddhist Temple, Kyoto]; 6-11/16” x 9-11/16” [6-5/8” x 9-5/8”]; 1 print listed; 4 prints pulled; Roullier’s #7

Note: Printed from a zinc plate.

14 Temple In Shiba - Tokyo - 1^st State; 6-11/16” x 9-5/8”;1 print listed; 1 print pulled (only impression).

15 Temple Steps - Kyoto, 5½” x 3½”;1 print listed; 5 prints pulled.

16 Bridge in Kyoto; 3” x 5½”; 1 print listed; 3 prints pulled.

17 Twin Idols, Tokyo [Twin Idols in the Outskirts of Tokyo]; inscribed Tokio June 9, 1904; 3½” x 5¾” [3½” x 5-11/16”; 3½” x 5½”; 8.8 cm x 14 cm]; 1 print listed; 12 prints pulled; Roullier’s #13; FAMSF and Gallaudet have copies.

  

Twin Idols in the Outskirts of Tokyo (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco

(etching)

18 Lotus Fountain - Higashi - Otarii; 6-11/16” x 9-15/16”; 2 prints listed.

Note: Plate cut to half size afterwards.

19 Study of Bronze Dragon, Kyoto [Preliminary Study of the Bronze Dragon of Kiyomisu-dera Temple; Study of (Bronze) Dragon]; 4½” x 6-1/8” [4½” x 6”; 4½” x 6-1/16” (11.43 cm x 15.4 cm)]; 1 print listed; 12 prints pulled; printed in brownish ink; Roullier’s #18; NYPL has a copy.

20 Steps Near Kiyomisu-dera Temple [Winding Stone Steps Near Kiyomizu-dera Temple; Winding Steps; Winding Steps, Kyoto; Steps in Kiyomi-zu-dera]; inscribed July 5, 1904; 3” x 5½” [3” x 5-3/8”; 2-15/16” x 5-7/16” (7.46 cm x 13.81 cm)]; 1 print listed; 5 prints pulled; Roullier’s #8.

Note: Beautifully wrought lattice fence is seen on top landing.

21 Kyoto Shops; 2-7/8” x 5½”; 1 print listed; 5 prints pulled.

Note: "Shops, crowds, temple and pagoda are depicted.  Mountains are also seen at distance.  Pedestrians under parasols are strolling along - nice tiny print."

22 Bronze Lamps, Kyoto [Stone Lamps, Kyoto]; inscribed Kyoto Aug. 12, 1904;  3-3/8” x 5¼” [3½"  x 5½”]; 1 print listed; 12 prints pulled; printed in brownish ink; NYPL has a copy. 

23 Buddhist Priest; 6” x 4½” [15.7 cm x 11.6 cm (also marked 6-1/8” x 4-5/8”); 15.5 cm x 11.3 cm (also marked 6-1/8” x 4-5/8”); 6¼” x 4-5/8” (15.9 cm x 11.7 cm); 6-3/16” x 4-9/16”; 6¾” x 4½” (17.14 cm x 11.43 cm); 5-1/8” x 3-5/8”]; 1 print listed; 1 print pulled; Roullier’s #22; FAMSF, Honolulu Museum of Art, Bowdoin College Museum, Minnesota State Art Society, and NYPL have copies.

[See image above.]

Note: A proof in the New York Public Library is printed on greyish yellow paper with this comment from Washburn: "Drypoint printed on rice paper that I tore from a window of a temple in Kyoto; the tone is produced by 150 years' exposure."  One of the FAMSF copies has a similar inscription, but copies were also printed on ordinary Japan paper.

24 Ujii [Uji, Japan]; inscribed Uji, Sept. 10^th 1904; 3¾” x 5-1/8”; 1 print listed; 1 print pulled; printed in brownish ink; NYPL has a copy.

Note:  While this print is different from #09, it is possible that the NYPL copy is actually "By the River, Uji."

25 Dragon in Front of Kiyomisu-dera [Famous Dragon Font of Kiyomisu-dera Temple Kyoto; Famous Dragon Font of Kiyomisu-Dera Temple, Kyoto; Famous Dragon Font at Kyoto; Famous Font of Kyomizu dera Temple, Kyoto]; inscribed Kyoto July 14, 1904; 11-7/8” x 8-15/16” [11-7/8” x 9”; 11-3/4” x 9”; 29.8 cm x 22.6 cm;11-7/8” x 8-7/8” (30.16 cm x 22.54 cm)]; 6 prints pulled; Roullier’s #12; FAMSF has a copy.

 

 Famous Dragon Font at Kyoto (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn
Courtesy of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco
(etching)

Note: Exhibited at the Chicago Society of Etchers Exhibition, March 5-27, 1912, and the Panama-Pacific International Exhibition, San Francisco, California, 1915.

26 By the River Ujii; 5¼” x 3-6/8”.

27 Riverside [River-side, Sumida River, Kyoto]; inscribed Aug. 14, 1904; 3” x 5½” [3½” x 5-7/16” (8.89 cm x 13.81 cm)]; 10 prints pulled.
Note: See note to #02.

28 Lotus Fountain at Higashi Otani; 5¾”  x 7¼”.

Note: Cut down version of #18 above.

29 Shiba Temple [Bronze Lamps of the Shiba Temple, Tokyo; Bronze Lamps of [the] Shiba Temple]; 9-11/16" x 6-11/16" [9¾” x 6½"; 9¾” x 6-11/16” (24.77 x 16.99 cm)]; 10 proofs; Roullier's #6.

Note: "Three immense Bronze Lamps of the Shiba Temple in a row, highly ornamental.  To appreciate size, note man standing in front of Temple.  Foreground shows interesting treatment of shadows."  This description would appear to also apply to print #54, except the plate size for that design is smaller.  It is possible that these two entries in fact relate to the very same print, or perhaps Washburn cut the plate down at some point.

30 Cemetery at Higashi Otani, Kyoto [Burial Place of Shinran Shonin at Higashi Otani, Kyoto]; 7-3/8” x 12” [19.3 cm x 30.7 cm; 7-5/8" x 12¼"; 19.3675 x 31.115 cm]; 3 proofs; FAMSF and Smith College Museum of Art have copies.

 

Burial Place of Shiran Shomin at Higashi Otani, Kyoto (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn
Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
(etching)

31 Bronze Lamps of the Shiba Temple;  3-3/8” x 5¼”; 12 proofs.

Note: “Many bronze lamps are scattered in wooded park.”  Either this print or #29 is inscribed "June 2, 1904."

32 Park, Kyoto; 4 ½ x 6”; Roullier’s #2.

33 Bridge in Park, Kyoto; inscribed Kyoto Sept. 6, 1904; 4” x 5” [4” x 5-1/8”]; printed in brownish ink; Roullier’s #3; NYPL has a copy.

34 Sketch of Burial Place of Shiran Shomin, Kyoto [A Sketch of Burial Place; Entrance to Burial Grounds of Shinran-Shonin, Kyoto; Burial Place of Shinran Shonin at Higashiotani, Kyoto]; 4½” x 5¾” [4½” x  6”; 11.5 cm x 15.1 cm]; edition of 10; printed in brownish ink; Roullier’s #9; Library of Congress and NYPL have copies.

35 Temple Entrance Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto [Temple Entrance of Kiyomizu-dera; Temple Entrance Kiyomizu-dera; Temple Entrance No. 1, Keyomi-za-dera Kyoto]; inscribed Kyoto July 6, 1904; 6” x 4½” [15.5 cm x 11.6 cm]; 12 proofs; Roullier’s #10; FAMSF has a copy.

 Temple Entrance Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto (1904) by Cadwallader Washbrun

Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
(etching)

36 Exterior of Temple at Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto [Exterior of Temple of Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto; Exterior of Temple Kiyomizu-dera]; inscribed Kyoto July 13, 1904; 4½” x 6” [11.6 cm x 15.3 cm]; 12 proofs; Roullier’s #11; FAMSF and Gallaudet have copies.

Exterior of Temple of Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn
Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
(etching)

37 Stone Steps, Nara [Stone Steps, Nara - Japan; Stone Steps]; inscribed NARA Sept. 4^th, 1904, 3¼” x 5¼” [8.6 cm x 13.7 cm]; 12 proofs; Roullier’s #14; FAMSF has a copy.

Stone Steps, Nara - Japan (1904) by Cadwallader Wasburn

Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

(etching)

38 Bronze Lamps, Nara; 3½”  x 5¼”; Roullier’s #15.
Note: There is a reference in the Gallaudet University Archives to the print “Bronze Lamps” having 12 proofs which, if not referring to #22, could be referring to this print.

39 A Font in Nara [A Font - Nara; A Font in Nara, Japan; A Font at Nara]; inscribed Nara Sept. 1904; 5-3/8” x 3-3/8”; [5-7/16” x 3-7/16” (13.81 cm x 8.73 cm); 13.6 cm x 8.9 cm; 5¼" x 3½"]; 12 proofs; Roullier’s #16; Library of Congress has a copy.

 

A Font in Nara (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

(etching) 

40 Toy Merchant [Toy Mendicant]; 6” x 4¼”; 3 proofs; Roullier’s #23.

41 Tokyo Beauty [A Tokio Beauty]; lithograph; inscribed Tokio June 1904; 9¾” x 7¾” [23.4 x 21.1 cm]; 4 pulled; Roullier’s #24; FAMSF, Gallaudet, and the Honolulu Museum of Art have copies.

 

Tokyo Beauty (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

(lithograph)

Note: Exhibited at the First International Print Makers Exhibition, Print Makers Society of California, March 1-31, 1920.

42 Head of a Native; lithograph; 6½” x 5”; 4 proofs; Roullier’s #25.

43 Head of a Mendicant; 6” x 4½”; 4 proofs; Roullier’s #26.

44 A Low Class Restaurant in Tokyo; 3-5/16" x 5¼"; printed in brownish ink; NYPL has a copy.

45 Hut of Japanese Fisherman, inscription unclear; 12.5 cm x 20 cm; edition of 15; Library of Congress has a copy.

46 Temple Entrance in Distance; inscribed Kyoto Sept. 5^th, 1904; 11.5 cm x 15.6 cm; 6 proofs; FAMSF has a copy.

Temple Entrance in Distance (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn
Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
(etching)

Note: This is possibly #32 above.

47 Ueno Park, Tokyo [Ueno Park]; lithograph, 24.6 x 19.3 cm; 3 proofs; FAMSF has a copy.

Ueno Park, Tokyo (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn
Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
(etching)

48 Untitled, inscribed Kyoto July 11, 1904; sight: 6" x 4-3/4".

Untitled by Cadwallader Washburn
(etching)

Note: This is possibly #15  above.

49 My Japanese Servant [Japanese Servant], lithograph; 8.6 cm x 8.6 cm; 1 proof; FAMSF has a copy.

My Japanese Servant (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn
Courtesy of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco
(lithograph)

50 Bronze Lamp [Bronze Lantern]; inscribed Tokio undecipherable 1904; 24.6 cm x 19.3 cm [9¾” x 7¾”]; 3 impressions before destruction in red ink; 3 proofs; FAMSF has a copy. 

Bronze Lantern (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

(etching)

51 Bronze Buddha; inscribed Kyoto Aug. 4, 1904; 15.5 cm x 11.5 cm; 12 proofs; FAMSF has a copy.

 

 Bronze Buddha (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco

(etching)

Note: A document in the Gallaudet University Archives contains two separate entries for a "Bronze Buddha," one of which is said to have 12 proofs and the other of which is said to have 4 proofs.  Consequently, it is possible that only 4 proofs of this print were made, and 12 proofs of a different "Bronze Buddha" design exist.

52 Bridge in Sunlight, Kyoto [Bridge in Sunlight]; 24.7 cm x 17 cm; 3 proofs; FAMSF has a copy.

Bridge in Sunlight, Kyoto (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco

(etching)

53 Buddhist Temple, Tokyo; 16.7 cm x 24.6 cm; 4 proofs; FAMSF has a copy.

 

 

 Buddhist Temple, Tokyo (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

  Courtesy of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco
(etching)

54 Bronze Lamps of the Shiba [Bronze Lamps of the Shiba Temple, Tokyo; Bronze Lamps of [the] Shiba Temple]; inscribed Tokio June 10, 1904; 13.8 cm x 8.7 cm [5-7/16" x 3-27/64"]; 10 proofs; FAMSF has a copy.

 

Bronze Lamps of the Shiba (1904) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the Fine Art Museums of San Francisco

(etching)

Note:  See note for print #29.

55 Buddha Near Tokio; lithograph; 2 proofs.

56 Trees in Kyoto; 5 proofs.

57 Sacred Bridge; 10 proofs.

58 Decorated Street in Tokio, 6 proofs.
Note: This is possibly the same print as #05.

* * *

If a reader has additional images, information, or corrections to provide about Washburn's Japanese prints, please let me know.

 

.Self-Portrait (c. 1910) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

(drawing)

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One Night In Bangkok: Cadwallader Washburn and the King of Siam

This distinguished-looking gentleman is the noted painter-etcher Cadwallader Lincoln Washburn (1866-1965).  Washburn was born into a prominent Republican family in American politics: his father William was a Senator and Congressman for Minnesota; his uncle Elihu was an Illinois Congressman, Secretary of State under President Grant, and the U.S. Minister to France; his uncle Israel was a Maine Congressman and Governor; his uncle Cadwallader was a Wisconsin Congressman and Governor, a Major General during the Civil War, and a founder of what would eventually become General Mills; and his uncle Charles was the U.S. Minister to Paraguay.  Washburn likely would have also pursued a career in public service but for the fact that he became deaf at age five as a result of contracting scarlet fever and spinal meningitis.

 

Cadwallader Washburn (c. October 1910)

(photograph)

Washburn graduated from Gallaudet College in 1890 with a Bachelors of Arts degree, and then obtained a degree in architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He went on to study painting at the Art Students League in New York City with Henry Mowbray and took private lessons with William Merritt Chase.  Washburn subsequently studied in Madrid with Joaquin Sorolla y Bistida and in Paris with Albert Besnard.  He exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon from 1896 to 1904, and at the Paris Exhibition in 1915.  In 1904-1905 Washburn and his brother Stanley were war correspondents during the Russo-Japanese War for the Chicago Daily News, and in 1910-1912  he reported on the early years of the Mexican Revolution.  Washburn took up etching in 1903, and exhibited 50 prints at the landmark Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco in 1915, where he won a gold medal for his work.  However, due to the strain that etching was causing on his eyes, Washburn all but abandoned etching by the 1930s and thereafter concentrated almost exclusively on painting.  Known as “The Silent Artist,” Washburn would later state that his “deafness may sometimes be an inconvenience but never a handicap.”  After his death, Gallaudet University dedicated its industrial arts building as the Washburn Art Center in his honor.

Corridor Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok (c. 1918) by Cadwallader Washburn 

Personal Collection

(etching)

I was aware that Washburn had done a Japanese series of etchings early on in his career (a post for another day) but it was not until I found the above etching did I learn that he had also done a series of etchings based on a subsequent trip to Siam during the winter of 1917-1918.  The subject of this etching, the Wat Phra Kaew, is a sprawling Buddhist temple complex in Bangkok that houses the statute of the Emerald Buddha, a sacred object that provides protection for the kingdom.  Today, the Wat Phra Kaew is Bangkok’s biggest tourist attraction and a pilgrimage destination for devout Buddhists and nationalists.  The former residence of the King, the Grand Palace, adjoins the temple.  Most of the buildings of the Grand Palace, however, are off-limits to the public.  In one of Washburn's letters, he describes his subject thusly: "It is the view of the exterior of the Wat that carries an Emerald Buddha.  It is magnificent beyond words!  The whole exterior in gold leaf, the iridescence changes all the time as the sun scales its way across the meridian chameleon-like.  It reminds me of a butterfly as it shivers in brilliant sunlight.  O! if I can only succeed in interpreting the elusive effect, on copper-plate!"  In a subsequent letter he called it "the finest plate in my life."

Close-up detail of Corridor Wat Pha Kaew, Bangkok (c. 1918)

The Vose Galleries in Boston held an exhibition of Washburn’s Siamese etchings in November 1918, but I haven’t been able to find an exhibition catalog (or to determine if one was even prepared) to provide authoritative information on print titles, medium, and sizes.  (There is not, at present, any catalog raisonné of Washburn’s 975 prints.)  Whether the King of Siam ever received any copies is unknown, but etchings from Washburn’s Siamese series appear to be uncommonly scarce, in part because only a small number appear ever to have been printed.

Bangkok, Siam  (1918) by Cadwallader Washburn
(possibly a study for the "Gilded Door, Bangkok" etching)

Courtesy of the de Young Museum

(drawing)

Since I work in Washington, D.C. not far from Gallaudet University, I decided to visit their library archives, which houses several boxes of manuscripts and other papers by and about Cadwallader Washburn, to see if I could learn more about his trip to Siam. That material provided the source of the quoted material found in this post.  It also turns out that Washburn himself published an article on Siamese Architecture in The American Magazine of Art, Volume 10, No. 5 (March 1919), which is the source of some of the black and white illustrations of etchings I couldn't find elsewhere.  

Other papers and letters revealed that his trip to Siam had not been planned.  Washburn had left in October 1917 for Japan, intending to go on to Vladivostock from Hiroshima and continue onto St. Petersburg.  By the time he had arrived in Japan, however, Vladivostock had fallen into the hands of the Bolsheviks.  A fellow passenger on his boat who had lived in Siam for twenty-two years suggested that he travel to Siam instead where he would be warmly received.  Washburn proceeded to Siam by way of Hong Kong (where he had two white linen suits made since he had not packed for the tropics), Canton (where he bought brown and old gold buff paper), and Singapore on a rat-infested "filthy steamer swarming with coolies and smelly goods."  He had originally planed to travel by rail and pack-pony from Bangkok to Chieng Mai, but recent flooding caused him to postpone that trip.  (While there are indications that Washburn was planning to go on to Chieng Mai at a later date, I have not found any actual evidence that he did, although the existence of his "Jungle Canal" etching does suggest he may briefly have ventured into the countryside and there is an implication in an unpublished biographical manuscript that he might have witnesses an elephant census at the ancient capital Ayuther.)

 

Bangkok, Siam (1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the de Young Museum

(drawing)

 Arriving in Bangkok in mid-November, Washburn took quarters at the Imperial Hotel in Bangkok where, in his own words he "[m]ade interesting series of plates of temples and natives" and "[k]ept a pair of parroquets" that he let fly around his room.  After an almost comical series of delays and false starts, with the assistance of the Chargé d'Affairs of the U.S. Legation Washburn was granted permission to sketch and paint on the Royal Palace grounds, although it took several more weeks to obtain the proper permits to enter certain select wats.  Washburn was "crazy over" the wats, which he found to be "extraordinary, unique and subtle."  The decoration of their doors and windows was "magnificent and beyond description."  In various letters he wrote that he "mean[t] to do the best work of my life here!" and subsequently wrote "[m]y new work, I think is going to be the most important in my life, at least I am straining every 'muscle and nerve' towards that realization."  Despite producing two dozen etchings, Washburn recounted that he lost eight plates due to issues with his acid when working in the unseasonably cool Bangkok weather.  Washburn's etchings are not dated; while some were clearly begun in 1917, it is not clear that any were successfully printed before the end of that year.  After nearly four months in Bangkok, he left on March 1, 1918 for New York (although there is also some suggestion that he might have caught an earlier boat in February).

According to one unsubstantiated reference in the Gallaudet Library Archives, Washburn was the first artist permitted by the King of Siam to work in the royal precincts of the sacred Wats, usually accompanied by the Royal Princes who were Oxford graduates and appreciative of Washburn’s skill with the needle.  As it turns out, the sticker that was on the back of the frame for my copy of “Corridor Wat Phra Kaew - Bangkok” says it was “[o]ne of the [first?] impressions” that were “executed by Special Commission for The King of Siam.”

 

However, I am beginning to believe that both claims were somewhat exaggerated.  Given Washburn's difficulty in obtaining the proper entry permits, he may well have been the first artist to gain admittance to certain special wats, but the very fact that a permit procedure existed suggests there were others before him in other areas.  Nor did Washburn ever recount the fact that he was the first to be accorded such an honor in any of his letters back home.  In particular, Washburn never once mentioned having met the King or any member of the Royal Family on his trip (though he was in the habit of mentioning the names of anyone interesting he did meet in his travels), let alone mention that the King had commissioned or received copies of any of his prints.  The closest he gets is a formal invitation by the King to visit the Sacred Temple of Wat Rambosphit, but he was escorted around that wat by the King's Royal Guard.  Either Tolerton confused the King's permission for Washburn to execute etchings with a formal royal commission to make them or else he was engaging in outright puffery to promote the sales of Washburn's work.

Among the Washburn papers at Gallaudet is a typed page listing certain information about 24 Siamese etchings (although the information therein is not entirely consistent with information found on the de Young Museum’s website or inscriptions found on known copies).  There is no indication who authored the list, whether it was by some Washburn print collector who consulted with Washburn or by Washburn himself (in which case it appears that some of the listed titles are Washburn's shorthand titles and not necessarily his official titles.)  The collector could have been Dr. Thomas Sprinkle, an engineering professor at CSUN, whose collection of Washburn material was given to the Gallaudet University Archives via Dr. I. King Jordan in 1996.  I’ve reproduced the substance of that list below, with further annotations of my own.  I have no idea what “Prints Listed” is to intended to represent.  It could mean the number of copies found in museum collections, but that is just a guess.

01 A Canal in Bangkok  [Marketing on Canal], 4-3/16” x 5-3/4” [10.9 cm x 14.3 cm], 3 prints listed; de Young has a copy.

Marketing on Canal (c. 1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the de Young Museum

(etching)

Note: There is a reference to "one proof" for this design in the Gallaudet Library Archives on a "recently discovered" list sent "years ago" to J Nilsen Laurvik, who wrote a monograph on Washburn, that "shows the editions of most plates."

02 Entrance to Wat Rambosphit - 1st State - only impression, 7-7/16” x 5-11/16” [6” x 4 ½”], 1 print listed; de Young has a copy.

03 A Mendicant, 4-5/16” x 4-3/16”, 4 prints listed, 4 prints pulled, printed on brown paper from Canton.

04 A Leper, 5-11/16” x 4½”, 4 prints listed, 5 prints pulled.

Note:  There is an anonymous typewritten summary about Washburn's trip to Siam that says "only on portrait was attempted during this period.  By the roadside Cadwallader passed daily a particular forelorn old man sitting apart and following the passerby with wistful, hungry eyes.  Through a bit of encouragement and kindness on the Artist’s part, a drypoint portrait was begun, but the likeness brought dismay and protest when seen by local friends, for the poor old model was none other than the town leper!”  There are, however, additional etchings of a "mendicant," an "outcast," and a "prachadee," so this clearly was not Washburn's only figure study at this time.

05 Entrance to a Crumbling Temple, 7-7/16” x 5-11/16”, 1 print listed, 5 prints pulled.

Entrance to a Crumbling Temple (c. 1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

(etching)

Note:  In Washburn's 1919 article on Siamese Architecture, the caption for this print reads: "Entrance to a crumbling temple in the grounds of Wat Poh."

06 Gilded Door of Wat Rajambosphit, 11-3/8”  x 5-3/4”, 1 print listed.  [But see #10, which suggests this is an inadvertent duplicate entry.] 

07 Prachadee, 7-1/8” x 5-1/16”, 2 prints listed.

08 A View on the Grounds of Wat Phra Keo, 7½” x 5-11/16”, 2 prints listed.

09 Gilded Temple Door, 4-7/16” x 5-11/16”, 4 prints listed.

10 Gilded Door of Wat Rajambosphit (before cutting plate), 11-3/8” x 5-3/4”, 4 prints listed.

11 Gilded Door of Wat Rajambosphit [Gilded Door, Bangkok] (after cutting plate), 9” x 5-3/4”, 4 prints pulled; Gallaudet has a copy.

Gilded Door, Bangkok (c. 1918) by Cadwallader Print

Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives

(etching)

Note: This image is regrettably partially cropped.   There is a reference to "four proofs" for "Rajamabosphit" (which could be this design or any one of a number of Siamese etchings) in the Gallaudet Library Archives on a "recently discovered" list sent "years ago" to J Nilsen Laurvik, who wrote a monograph on Washburn, that "shows the editions of most plates."

Washburn recounted in a letter that "[t]he entrance doors to the bote, are very ponderous, one foot thick made of solid teak; and difficult to open; naturally as the temple is not open to the public so the hinges are stiff.  These double doors are wonderfully ornate on the side facing the court, carved and heavily gilded.  I should judge that they measure about twenty feet high and ten feet wide.  Ten feet away they appear very impressive and in perfect keeping with the importance of the 'bote.'"

12 An Outcast, 7-3/8” x 5-11/16”, 3 prints listed, 6 prints pulled.

13 Group of Bronzes [Bronze Lion, Bangkok], 7-7/16” x 5-3/4” [18.9 cm x 14.7 cm], 4 prints listed; de Young has a copy.

 Bronze Lion, Bankok (c. 1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the de Young Museum

(etching)

Note: There is a reference to "three proofs" for a "Stone Lion (litho)" in the Gallaudet Library Archives on a "recently discovered" list sent "years ago" to J Nilsen Laurvik, who wrote a monograph on Washburn, that "shows the editions of most plates."  It is possible that the de Young Museum's description is in error, or else the "Stone Lion" is a different piece than the "Bronze Lion."  It is also possible that "Group of Bronzes" relates to an entirely different etching from the "Bronze Lion."

14 Entrance to Wat Rambosphit (finished state), 7-7/16” x 5-11/16”, 4 prints listed.

15 Gilded Buddha, 7-7/16” x 5-11/16”, 4 prints listed, printed on brown paper.

Note: In one of Washburn's letters, he mentions a print of a gold Buddha (which could be #22 below instead) where the two pillars on the left are taller than the pillars on the right so that there are two roofs that are tapered into one.  A "Gold Buddha" was also exhibited at the Print Makers Society of California's First International Print Makers Exhibition, March 1-31, 1920.

16 Demon on Guard of Entrance [aka Demon on Guard, Bangkok; Sculptured Figure on Guard at the rear of the Temple Phra-Keo, Bangkok, Siam], 5-5/16” x 7-3/8” [18.7 cm x 14.5 cm; 18.8 cm x 14.4 cm], 2 prints listed, 12 prints pulled; de Young has 2 copies;also owned by the New York Public Library printed in brown ink; exhibited at the Print Makers Society of California's First International Print Makers Exhibition, March 1-31, 1920.

Demon on Guard, Bankok (c. 1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the de Young Museum

(etching)

Note:  In Washburn's 1919 article on Siamese Architecture, the caption for this print reads: "A sculptured god on guard at the rear of the Wat Phra Keo."  The New York Public Library has an inscription (supposedly not in Washburn's hand) that says "First impression of last state; pulled in Bangkok, Siam using press bought in Paris in 1903 when I took up etching for the first time.  I think the tone of the paper suggests color of old faded ivory."

17 A Fragment of Wat Phrakeo, 7-3/8” x 5-11/16”, 3 prints listed, 3 prints pulled.

 A Fragment of Wat Phrakeo (c. 1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

(etching)

18 Carved Teakwood Window Wat Benchamsbophit [A Temple Window], 10-11/16” x 7½” [27.1 cm x 19.1 cm], 4 prints listed, 6 prints pulled; de Young has copy.

A Temple Window (c. 1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the de Young Musuem

(etching)

Note: There is a reference to "four proofs" for this design in the Gallaudet Library Archives on a "recently discovered" list sent "years ago" to J Nilsen Laurvik, who wrote a monograph on Washburn, that "shows the editions of most plates."

19 Jungle Canal, 7½”  x 5-11/16”, 1 print listed; only proof.

20 Mother Elephant - Wat Phra Keo [Mother Elephant, Bangkok], 7½” x 5-3/4” [18.9 cm x 14.5 cm], 4 prints listed, 11 prints pulled; de Young has a copy.

Mother Elephant, Bangkok (c. 1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the de Young Museum

(etching)

Note: There is a reference to "four proofs" for this design in the Gallaudet Library Archives on a "recently discovered" list sent "years ago" to J Nilsen Laurvik, who wrote a monograph on Washburn, that "shows the editions of most plates."

21 Bronze Elephants [Twin Elephants, Bangkok], 7-3/8” x 5-11/16”, 1 print listed.

Twin Elephants, Bangkok (c1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of Schwenke Auctioneers

(etching)

Note:  In Washburn's 1919 article on Siamese Architecture, the caption for this print reads: "Erected in memory of sacred elephants in the grounds of Wat Phra Keo."

22 Buddha in Niche, 5-11/16” x 4-3/16”, 4 prints listed.

 In one of Washburn's letters, he describes working inside the main temple of the Wat Rayobospit "all alone without a guard about, with all the jewelled objects of great value scattered about; the immense gilded Buddha [which could also be #15 above] seated on his lotus flower of great beauty, carved artistically as it is - Buddha appears quite awe-stirring, and his size exaggerated as he sits in the darkened recess.  The walls on all sides are painted with queer figures and landscape taken from scenes in Buddha's life.  The great pilasters supporting the roof are likewise covered with figures etc."  He enclosed this drawing which likely foreshadows the resulting etching:

Buddha Sketch (c. January 5, 1918) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of Gallaudet University Archives

(ink drawing)

23 Corridor Wat Phra Keo [Corridor Wat Pha Kaew, Bangkok], 14-1/8” x 8-1/8” [image size], 10 prints pulled.

[See image above.]

Note: There is a reference to "seven proofs" for this design in the Gallaudet Library Archives on a "recently discovered" list sent "years ago" to J Nilsen Laurvik, who wrote a monograph on Washburn, that "shows the editions of most plates."  In Washburn's 1919 article on Siamese Architecture, the caption for this print reads: "Wat Phra Keo.  A temple endowed and dedicated by the royalty.  Here gold leaf is lavishly used.  Doors are ornamented with intricate designs worked in gold upon a black background, or with scenes in the life of Buddha worked in mother-of-pearl upon a foundation of shiny black lacquer."  This was the largest plate that Washburn worked on up until this point in time.

24 Altar of Wat Rajamsbosphit 

* * *

If a reader has additional images from this series to share, please let me know.

Self-Portrait No. 2 (c. 1930s) by Cadwallader Washburn

Courtesy of the de Young Museum

(etching)

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Armin Landeck: The One-Off

 

Self-Portrait in a Shaving Mirror (1942) by Armin Landeck

Courtesy of Conrad R. Graeber Fine Art

(etching)

Although trained as an architect, Armin Landeck (1905-1984) was unable to find employment in his chosen profession due to the Depression and decided to devote his attention to printmaking and teaching.  As with John Taylor Arms and a surprising number of other etchers who studied architecture, buildings tend to be the dominant subject in Landeck's mature work.

Washington Square Vista (1945) by Armin Landeck

Courtesy of Paramour Fine Arts

(etching)

Of the approximately 130 prints made during the course of Landeck's career as a printmaker, however, one image particularly stands out as being seemingly unrelated to Landeck's life and travels, a portrait of a Japanese boy.  What possessed him to commit this boy's likeness to paper?   Was the boy a childhood friend of Landeck's son Philip?

Jap Boy (1935) by Armin Landeck

Personal Collection

(drypoint)

Landeck's title for this print is no longer politically correct, but his depiction of the boy is a sensitive  and realistic one, devoid of stereotype or cliché.  The object in the boy's hand is unclear, the handle to a toy wagon, perhaps.

Like Lowell Stanley Bobleter, Landeck does not appear to have ever visited the Far East.  (He did, however, visit Turkey in the late twenties at the beginning of his etching career.)  Was this uncharacteristic print commissioned for a visiting Japanese businessman or diplomat?  The edition size of 12 impressions is certainly small enough to suggest that it might have been a commission   In fact, the print is so uncommon that no image was available when the Kraefts' catalogue raisonné was first compiled in 1977 or when it was updated and revised in 1994.

I actually acquired this print as a bonus when bidding on a Japanese landscape print by Martin Lewis.  This pairing was not illogical, since Lewis was a close friend who lived for Japan for two years in the early twenties and produced more than a dozen etchings based on his time in Japan when he resumed his etching career in mid-twenties.  Some of Landeck's prints from the early 1930s show a clear debt to Lewis.  In the fall of 1934, Lewis, Landeck, and the lithographic printer George C. Miller opened "The School for Printmakers" at Miller's studio in New York City, although it would close only a few months later.  Landeck also substituted for Lewis teaching graphics at the Arts Student League during the winter of 1947-1948 while Lewis was out of town.  Could this boy's father be someone Lewis had originally met in Japan that Lewis introduced to Landeck at some point in the mid-thirties?  Like Bobleter's mysterious handful of Asian-themed prints, we may never know for sure what or who inspired Landeck to make this atypical print.

Armin Landeck Sharpens a Burin (2013) by Evan Lindquist
Courtesy of evanlindquist.com

(engraving)

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Mabel Royds: Anatomy of the "Musicians" Print

 Portrait of Mabel Royds (1911) by Ernest Lumsden
Courtesy of the Owner

Mabel Allington Royds (1874-1941) is certainly overdue for a critical monograph to be written about her life and work.  I leave that job to some enterprising British print scholar with far more knowledge about Royds than I happen to have.  Rather than providing readers with an overview of her artistic career or focusing merely on her Indian and Tibetan subjects (which, to this collector, is the portion of her oeuvre that I find the most interesting), I thought I'd instead concentrate on a single Royds print for what it teaches us about her compositional process. To that end, I've selected her "Musicians" print because it is representative of her Indian woodblock prints in general and because the amount of extant notebook material available relating to this design.  It is also one of her better known designs, having been featured in Malcolm Salaman's 1927 book "The Woodcut of To-Day at Home and Abroad."

Musicians (c. 1926) by Mabel Royds as shown in 

"The Woodcut of To-Day at Home and Abroad" (1927) by Malcolm Salaman

Not all of Mabel Royds' preparatory work survives or, at least, is currently accounted for.  None, as far as I know, is dated, making it difficult to know for sure which drawings were made while she and her painter-etcher husband, Ernest Lumsden, were in India and which were made years later back in Edinburgh in preparation for the carving of her blocks.  (Royds was in India between December 1913 and Spring 1914 on the tail end of an extended honeymoon, and returned for an extended stay between 1915 and 1917.)  One may assume that her drawings on the darker, thinner and more brittle paper represents her oldest drawings, but that is only an educated guess on my part.  Likewise, it's difficult to say when her gouache studies were made.  My best guess is that they were done in Edinburgh, but before the more finished drawings were executed.

Study for the Musicians print

Courtesy of John Shillito
(pencil drawing with watercolor)

The above drawing appears to be one of Royd's earliest, in part because of the quick strokes used to delineate the figure but also because the musician is facing slightly left, as opposed to the figure facing slightly right in the final print.  The foxing due to the acidity in the paper also suggest it was taken from one of Royds' Indian sketchbooks.

Study for the Musicians print

Personal Collection

(pencil drawing)

Given the color of the paper (which is browner in real life than this image would suggest) and the roughness of the composition, this drawing of the two central musicians is also probably from one of Royds' Indian sketchbooks.  Her two subsequent studies of the two musicians are drawn on much whiter paper and are much more detailed, particularly where the faces and feet are concerned.  Having studied life-drawing at the Slade School of Art, presumably under Henry Tonks, Royds's figures are realistically rendered.  She uses shading not only to impart volume to the figures but also to depict shadows generated from their bodies in the sunlight.
 

 Study for the Musicians print

Personal Collection

(pencil drawing)

 Study for the Musicians print

Personal Collection

(pencil drawing)

A similar progression can be seen with the drawings of the woman carrying the baby.   The first is roughly sketched on darker paper, again likely from one of her Indian sketchbooks.  (The inset in the upper right corner looks like it might be an early conception for the Sword Grinders design.)  The second, on whiter paper, provides most of the essential details that will be found in the final print, although the baby's face remains unfinished.   Note, however, that we see the baby's entire head in the drawing, which is cropped in final print.

Study for the Musicians print

Personal Collection

(pencil drawing)

 

Study for the Musicians print

Personal Collection

(pencil drawing)

The first of following gouache studies is interesting because it shows Royds from the beginning planning an entire series of Indian prints, rather than approaching them one at a time.  In addition the two musicians studies at the top and middle right, we also see a studies for the Water Carriers print in the upper left, the Sword (or Knife) Grinders print in the middle left, and the Donkey Boy print in the lower left.  (There is no direct print corollary for the design in the bottom right, although it shares some general similarities with her Shrine or Market print.)  We know that Royds' Musicians print was completed before the Spring of 1926 because it was included in the Seventh International Print Makers Exhibition at the Los Angeles Museum Exposition Park that ran between March 2nd and April 4th, 1926.  But since Salaman first wrote about her Sword Grinders print in "Modern Woodcuts and Lithographs by British and French Artists" in 1919, this composite piece shows that she would have had the Musicians print in mind a number of years before the blocks for that print would have been actually cut.  While the patterned shirt of rightmost musician in the middle right never made it into the final print, it was retained in the blouse of the woman with the bundle on her head.

Studies for the various prints including the Musicians print

Personal Collection

(pencil drawing with gouache)

The second gouache study is actual print size, probably done to get a sense of how big the figures should be in the final print.  The woman holding the baby has been added to the background, but Royds has yet to add the other two figures in the right background or to remove the two figures in the back left that had appeared in one of the earlier small gouache studies.

 Study for the Musicians print

Personal Collection

(pencil drawing with gouache)

I've known for some time that Royds was a colorist and that numerous color variants exist for many of her prints.  Her Musicians print is no exception.  However, having examined every copy of the Musicians print on-line that I could locate, I've found that it can be quite difficult to determine what is actually a color variant and what is simply inaccurate color duplication by a scanner or by a digital camera.  I've even seen images of the very same physical copy look entirely different simply because they were photographed or scanned by different individuals under different lighting conditions.  The use of a flash can wash out color, and it may not be easy to determine whether a given print is simply age-faded or printed with paler pigments.  Without an actual in-person inspection, a determination of a variant state based entirely upon color alone can be a very unreliable and risky proposition.  That said, my research has led me to conclude that at least three basic states of Royds' Musician print exist along with two substates, separate and apart from how many color variants may exist for any given state.

Musicians (State 1A) (c. 1925?) by Mabel Royds

Personal Collection

(woodblock print)

Musicians (State 1A) (color variant) (c. 1925?) by Mabel Royds

Courtesy of Gerrish Fine Art

(woodblock print)

 Musicians (State 1B) (c. 1925?) by Mabel Royds

Personal Collection

(woodblock print)

As can be seen, the distinguishing feature of the A state over the B state is Royds' use of light and shadow.  To be sure, shadows are present in the B state, but largely as projections from the figures.   In the A state, however, the musicians are entirely covered by shade.  Whether generated by a tree, a tent, or moving cloud is unclear, but it clearly differentiates the placement of the musicians from the other figures in the design.  Royds is hardly the first printmaker to depict shade and shadow in a woodblock print.  Certainly she stands on the back of Charles W. Bartlett and the Watanabe craftsmen who designed and made such prints as "Madura. 1916., "Peshawar.," or "Silk Merchants. India."  But I can't think of an earlier printmaker who so aggressively contrasts sunlight with shade in a woodblock print.  The result may not be entirely successful, but it's a bold, adventurous attempt all the same.

Royds' treatment is particularly audacious in the context of a figurative scene, rather than a landscape, something that clearly distinguishes the majority of her prints from Bartlett's.   While Bartlett sometimes realistically depicted people in his etchings (and he was a first rate portrait painter), they remain largely anonymous and purely decorative figures in his woodblock prints, existing solely to provide a dash of color or a sense of life or movement to prevent the scene from appearing overly static.  Royds herself designed several pure Indian landscape prints, but the Indian or Tibetan people, if present in her designs, were usually the focus of her prints.  Some commentators read into Royds' work an inherent criticism of British Imperialism.  I have no idea what her political views were at the time on the question of Indian independence, but I don't view her print designs as being political propaganda disguised as art.  But it is clear that she was a humanist, and her figures are always rendered sympathetically and with dignity.

First State vs. Later State

While I've been familiar with Royds' Musicians print for years, it was only a couple of months ago that I discovered something that I had failed to appreciate before and which I've never seen remarked upon anywhere in the literature.  All the later states of this print design have the leftmost of the two musicians looking down, while in the earliest state the leftmost musician is looking out toward the viewer and slightly to the right.  Royds also changes the musician's tunic and turban, as well as the the shape of his instruments (including the number of its pegs). Other subtle changes, such as the folds in the man's pants, can be found.  This means that Royds necessarily had to recarve and/or plug her original keyblock at some point in time. Given the relative scarcity of the first state, I have to believe that she was somewhat dissatisfied with the first state and changed it relatively early on.  The above three copies are the only ones I have ever seen of the first state, and all came indirectly from the Royds' estate.  They may, in fact, be printer's proofs, and the first state may never have been commercially issued.  Nonetheless, it  shows that she had conceived of her A and B states right from the beginning, rather than being some later-conceived permutation as some of her color variants clearly were.

Musicians (State 2A) (c. 1925-1926?) by Mabel Royds

Courtesy of  John Shillito

(woodblock print)

 Musicians (State 2B) (c. 1925-1926?) by Mabel Royds

Courtesy of John Shillito

(woodblock print)

This discovery sent me on a detailed comparison of the lines in all of her Musicians print copies.  By looking for line breaks due to wear in her blocks over time, or the absence of certain lines altogether, one can see that see that at least two other distinct print editions exist.   In the second or intermediate state where the downward looking left musician was first introduced, there is still the line in the foreground between the two musicians.  State 2A is, however, the only state I've seen with the left musician wearing something other than a blue tunic.  One also notices a line break in the pants above the left musician's knee near the tip of the bow in State 2B that is present in all later states but which is absent from State 2A.  This clearly suggests that State 2B was printed after State 2A.  In addition, the seated girl in State 2B is wearing pants printed with a polka dot design, a pattern that Royds seems to have used in all later printings.  Because Royds is not merely changing the color of her pants but their design, an entirely new block would have had to have been cut to produce this effect.  (Alternatively, Royds could have carved the dots directly onto the original block used to print the pants, in which case she would have lost the ability to ever print the solid pants version again.)  It's possible that a variant of State 2A exists with polka-dotted pants, but I have not as yet located one.  On the other hand, there is a substantially continuous black border on State 2B but is largely discontinuous in State 2A, which would seem to contradict my theory that State 2A precedes State 2B.  Either way, these intermediate states appear to be relatively rare, as these are the only two copies I've found so far.

  Musicians (State 3) (c. 1926?) by Mabel Royds

Courtesy of Joyce Williams Antique Prints & Maps

(woodblock print)

   Musicians (State 3 - variant?) (c. 1926?) by Mabel Royds

Personal Collection

(woodblock print) 

   Musicians (State 3 - variant?) (c. 1926?) by Mabel Royds

Courtesy of the Goldmark Gallery

(woodblock print)

  

   Musicians (State 3 - variant?) (c. 1926?) by Mabel Royds

Courtesy of the Modern Printmakers Blog, http://haji-b.blogspot.com

(woodblock print) 

   Musicians (State 3 - variant?) (c. 1926?) by Mabel Royds

Courtesy of Abbott and Holder Ltd.

(woodblock print) 

  Musicians (State 3 - variant?) (c. 1926?) by Mabel Royds

Courtesy of the British Museum

(woodblock print) 

By state 3, it becomes extremely difficult to tell what may or may not be a variant color state without personal inspection of the prints.  One also can't be completely sure if there is further wear in the blocks accounting for lines to be indistinctly printed, or if they were the result of uneven baren force being applied or insufficient inking of the blocks.  The Joyce Williams copy appears to be the earliest printed of all of these copies, because there is a slight trace of a portion of the line in the foreground between the two musicians.  But the border clearly seen in State 2B above is gone, except in some areas near the corners.  Now the contrast between the dark foreground and the ground where the woman carrying the baby is standing is more palpable, as if there was a light source emanating directly from the area around her feet.  The musicians are bathed in shadows ranging from a greenish grey-white to a pale green that essentially blurs any distinction between the A and B states.  It's a mater of taste whether this is an improvement over the blue shadow of the earlier states.   It's certainly more aesthetically pleasing to my eyes but, at the same time, a sense of how brutally hot Indian sun must have felt like is somewhat diminished in the process.  

While I'm not going to note all perceptible differences in the above State 3 from print to print, I'll list a few obvious ones (some of which apply to the earlier states as well): skin pigments that appear to range from dark brown to a maroon or purplish-brown; arm and neck bracelets that may or may not be colored; the checked blouse on the woman with a bundle on her head that ranges in color from olive to peach; and her skirt that ranges in shade from dark to light.  Both the Joyce Williams copy and my personal copy of State 3 show the ribbed structure of the aquamarine door, including what appear to be round door handles (or knockers).  Thereafter the ribs and door handles are either indistinct or missing altogether.  (They are also missing on my copy of State 1A, so this is not something unique to State 3.)

If any conclusion can be drawn from the above, it is that Royds seemed to be constantly experimenting, not only with color, but also with the interplay between light and shadow as captured and reproduced in the printing process. We may never know if the third state reflects her final, finished concept for the design, or if it was merely just another alternative state to her.  Given that all three states are signed, I can only assume that each met with her approval in some way.  One also wonders if Royds was a music lover or if it was simply the exoticism of Asian musicians that appealed to her.   Besides the Musicians print, musicians also feature in her prints of the Devil Dance Heralds, the Lamas' Harvest, and, by implication, The Snake Charmer, although no pungi is actually depicted in that design.

My thanks to John Shillito for sharing his knowledge about Mabel Royds' work and for being a helpful sounding board during the writing of this post.  If a reader has a version of the Musicians print that seems to contradict what I've outlined above, or which suggests another state altogether, please let me know.

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Galerie Hochdruck Japonisme Exhibition

Galerie Hochdruck in Vienna is having a "Druckgrafik des Japonismus" exhibition running from November 28th to February 27, 2016.  An online version of their exhibition can be found at http://www.galeriehochdruck.com/Ausstellungen/Japonismus/japonismus_catalogue.html and is worth checking out.

Segler auf Hiddensee 2 [Sailors on Hiddensee 2] (c. 1915) by Siegfried Berndt

(woodblock print)

The exhibition concentrates on prints by Mittle-European artists, many of whom of new to me, but it also includes a selection of classical Japanese ukiyo-e prints and some prints by several contemporary print artists.  Few if any of the pre-WWII print artists besides Emil Orlik ever actually traveled to Japan, so the prints are largely ones which are merely "inspired" by Japanese composition and motifs.  The various artists represented include Erich Buchwald-Zinnwald, Lucien Pissarro, Leonhard Fanto, Maximilian Kurzweil, Carl Moll, Walther Klemm, Nobertine Bresslern-Roth, and Hugo Henneberg, among others.

Vier Jahreszeiten: Herbst [Four Seasons:Winter] (1909) by Hedwig Jarke  (woodblock print)	Badefreuden [Bathing] (1903) by Hans Neumann (woodblock print)

I particularly like this WWI print by Dirk Hidde Nijland:

Duikboot en mijn [U-Boat and Mines] (1917) by Dirk Hidde Nijland

(woodblock print)

The owner of the gallery told me that objects in the exhibition will change over time as certain prints are sold and new ones are acquired, so it might be worthwhile to check back from time to time.

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