The Washington times., 1903-03-22

maintains weekly sketch class, which
meets on Tuesday afternoons.
The exhibition OF japanese prints now
on at the HemicycIe OF the Corcoran
Gallery, is somewhat bewildering to the
visitor in the large number Of prints.
and the unique character of the art work
OF old Japan. Art OF this class. however
beautiful. is somewhat difficult TO prop
erly appreciate from the fact that it is
so different from the usual type Of pub
lie exhibitions and from the further fact
that /, takes us into new paths in the
idea OF homo decoration. When We con
side that some OF these prints are the
work OF artists OF some go years ago.
and by comparison try TO 3x the value
OF this work by the art standards OF that
time. we realize the difficulty Of proper
ly understanding its worth unless fully
conversant with the history and the eyo-
luton OF japanese art. Artists OF the
present day are always willing TO ac-
cord to the Japanese degree OF art feel
ing developed 10 a far greater extent
than that shown by the people OF the
new world. and when We are able from
these old prints 10 understand the art
conditions which existed so many years
ago in Japan. II is much easier 10 un-
derstand the reason for the artistic
tendencies Of this distant people.
II is interesting 10 know that in the
earlier days, when these color prints
were made. the engraving upon blocks
OF cherry wood was accomplished
by pasting the artists work on the block
and cutting away such portions of the
pattern thus formed as were necessary
in order to reproduce the drawing of the
original For each color 10 be used in
the finished print a separate block was
engraved. and. OF course. in the printing
separate impression was necessary for
each color. The finished prints were so
inexpensive that even the poorest of the
people were able TO purchase them for
use in the decoration Of their homes, and
the value Of these works was considered
OF such educational Importance 10 the
people thar the government fixed the
maximum price at which they could be
sold. and thus enabled the humblest
homes to be beautifed Printed on null
berry tissue, these prints are as durable
as. though stamped on a thin parchment.
and so common were they in the homes
that when the screen or other object to
which they were attached became worn
out there was no effort made TO save
the decorations, and thus it has hap
pened that mapy of these specimens have
been destroyed.
In the course OF the development Of
Japan by the closer acquaintance with.
European nations, this form of art be-
came unpopular and was abandoned
New schools were formed, and artists
Influenced 10 a greater extent by as
sociation with Europeans, filled the
places formerly occupied by these
pioneers. During the past twenty five
years there has been a revival of in
terest in the works of these old mas
ters. Before that time these prints had
no value among the Japanese, but with
the advent of the art collector there was
rapid appreciation OF these early
works. and at last Japan awoke TO
the realization that there we're more of
these prints owned out of Japan than
in that kingdom. The prints are uniform
ly matted with patterns of dark color
This has been done for exhibition pur-
poses rather than in conformity with
any similar system prevailing in Japan.
The subjects embraced in this ex-
hibition are principally confined to the