About This Print

Two impressions from the same edition of Tokuriki's portrait of his wife combing her hair.  This is one of Tokuriki's iconic sosaku hanga prints. While a number of sources, including the Honolulu Academy of Arts, date the original publication of this print to 1935, Statler (see following paragraph) dates it to 1947, as do the MFA, Boston and The British Museum. 

Source: Modern Japanese Prints, Oliver Statler, Charles E. Tuttle Company, June, 1956, p.199.
Tomikichiro Tokuriki: Woman Combing Her Hair.  Polychrome impression, 13 ¾ x 9 ½ in.  Published in 1947.  Carved, printed, and published by the artist.  Edition: limited to 50 (30 printed to date).  Blocks: 1 block of solid sakura (the line block), 4 blocks of solid ho (color areas); 10 printing stages.  Pigment: Japanese powdered mineral pigments and sumi.  Paper: hosho from Echizen.  Location: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and collection of the author.  Notes:  This is a study of Tokuriki’s wife.

Breaking from the Brush

In commenting on Tokuriki's technique Statler writes "the best of his creative prints, like Woman Combing Her Hair..., show a resolute effort to design with the knife.  'I want to break away from the brush,' says Tokuriki"  referring to moving away from his Japanese-style painting (nihonga) background.

Other Editions, States and Impressions

At least two different states of this print exist - one employing a red background and blue/gray color for the blouse, as in this collection's print pictured above, and one using orange for the background with pink for the blouse, as can be seen in the prints below from the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and Shogun Gallery. 

While the Shogun Gallery website indicates that the orange and pink state was limited to an edition of 100, the edition size for this state is not noted on the LACMA or MFA, Boston notations for the print, nor is it shown on the front of the Shogun Gallery print.  This leads me to believe that this state of the print was an unnumbered edition.

Statler, in his technical notes on the print (see above) gives the edition size as 50, indicating a possible other edition of an unknown state.  The image of the print in the Statler book is a poor resolution black and white photograph and no color information, other than "polychrome", is provided.

As to the red and blue/gray state of the print, four of the six below examples, along with this collection's print, are numbered as part of an edition of 100 impressions.  The Honolulu Academy of Arts print carries neither edition number, seal or signature and it is noted that it is a "later printing" published by Matsukyū   [末詳 (まつ九)] (the publishing house Tokuriki set up after WWII.)  Unfortunately, the web entry for the print in the British Museum's collection has neither an image nor detailed information.

It appears that the same blocks were used for both states of the print.  While the placement of the artist's signature and seal (and the form of the signature and seal) vary from print to print, it does not indicate a different block as both the signature and seal are not carved in the block and were hand applied.

Finally, the Shogun Gallery impression has the name of Tokuriki's publishing house Koroku-Sya (a sub-company of his Matsukyū publishing venture) written in the bottom margin.

Orange and Pink State

Los Angeles County Museum of Art Woman Combing Her Hair, 20th century Print, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Image: 12 5/16 x 9 1/2 in. (31.02 x 24.01 cm); Sheet: 12 3/4 x 10 3/16 in. (32.05 x 25.08 cm) Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Felix Juda (M.79.176.87)

Shogun Gallery website Title: WOMAN COMBING HER HAIR Dated: 1935 (My note: publishing date was 1947.)   Signed: Tomi Tokuriki Ltd. Ed.: 100

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Woman Combing Her Hair 髪を梳く美人 Japanese, Shôwa era, 1947 Artist: Tokuriki Tomikichiro, Japanese, 1902–2000 Kyoto, Japan Image: 37.6 x 26.3 cm (14 13/16 x 10 3/8 in.) Woodblock print Classification: Prints A woman combing her hair. Orange ground and pink blouse. Seals: Tomi Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Accession number: 65.1118

Red and Blue/Grey State

Arts and Designs Japan From Catalog 25 October 2003 http://www.artsanddesignsjapan.com/view.php?t=1&c=22&n=112 Artist Tokuriki Title Woman combing her hair Signed T. Tokuriki Date 1935 (My note: publishing date was 1947.) Edition 61/100 Format 11 1/8" X 16 1/2" Impression Fine Condition Excellent color Illustrated JTB Vol. 10, p. 109

Image from Ronin Gallery Inventory Number R01469 Artist Tokuriki Title Woman Medium Woodblock Print Date 1947 Size 16" x 11" Edition 83/100 Signature Signed in Pencil T Tokuriki Condition Excellent color, impression and state, full margins

Merlin Dailey Gallery 15/100

Scan of image appearing in Japanese Wood-block Prints, Shizuya Fujikake, Japan Travel Bureau, 1938 revised 1949

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#98, #1804
Title	Woman Combing Her Hair (a.k.a. A Woman Dressing Her Hair, Portrait of the Artist's Wife)
Series
Artist	Tokuriki Tomikichiro (1902-2000)
Signature	IHL Cat. #98: Tokuriki in pencil within image IHL Cat. #1804: Tokuriki in pencil in lower left margin
Seal	富 tomo seal in lower left corner of image
Date	1947
Edition	IHL Cat. #98: 51 of 100  IHL Cat., #1804: 36 of 100 (actual number of editions and states is unknown - see discussion above.)
Publisher	self-published
Printer	self-printed
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	IHL Cat. #98: good - slight foxing, toning and soiling; side and bottom margins trimmed to image  IHL Cat. #1804: - light toning; tape remnants corner verso
Genre	sosaku hanga (creative print)
Miscellaneous
Format	oban
H x W Paper	IHL Cat. #98: 13 5/8 x 9 7/16 in. (34.6 x 24 cm)  IHL Cat. #1804: 14 1/4 x 10 7/16 in. (36.2 x 26.5 cm)
H x W Image	IHL Cat. #98: 12 3/4 x 9 3/8 in. (32.4 x 23.8 cm)  IHL Cat. #1804 12 3/4 x 9 3/8 in. (32.4 x 23.8 cm)
Collections This Print	Los Angeles County Museum of Art M.79.176.87; The British Museum 1987,0316,0.311; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 65.1118; Honolulu Academy of Art 26377 (no seals or dating)
Reference Literature	Japanese Wood-block Prints, Shizuya Fujikake, Japan Travel Bureau, 1938 revised 1949; Modern Japanese Prints, Oliver Statler, Charles E. Tuttle Company, June, 1956, p.126,199; Wood-block Printing, Tomikichiro Tokuriki, Hoikusha Publishing Co., Ltd., 1968, p. 64.

latest revision:

8/16/2018