Paul Binnie

Scottish, b. 1967

A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Hokusai's Waterfalls
(Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Hokusai no Taki)

the series title cartouche in the upper right margin, Edo zumi hyaku shoku, the print title to the left, with the first portion, Hokusai no, in the style of Hokusai's signature, followed by a picture of a waterfall representing taki, signed in gold kanji at lower left, Bin-ni followed by artist's red seal in the shape of a barrel (ready to go over the falls) that is comprised of the letters Binnie, pencil numbered and signed on the bottom margin, 59/100, Paul Binnie, 2006

dai oban tate-e 16 5/8 by 11 7/8 in., 42.3 by 30.1 cm

Binnie seamlessly integrates three compositions from the circa 1832 series A Journey to the Waterfalls in All the Provinces (Shokoku Taki Meguri) by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). The tattoo on the figure's left shoulder, consisting of a circular water source and the sheer vertical drop of the falls is derived from Hokusai's Amida Waterfall on the Kisokaido Road (Kisoji no oku Amidagataki). Binnie removed the yellow-green hills and bluffs which surround the falls in Hokusai's original image, including just the Prussian blue surroundings which meets the images from Hokusai's Horse-Washing Falls (Wahu Yoshino Yoshitsune uma arai no taki) and Kirifuri Waterfall at Kurokami Mountain in Shimotsuke (Shimotsuke KurokamiyamaKirifuri no taki). Amidst the rush of water, the artist prominently preserves the original horse-washing motif. The barrel-shaped artists seal is not a reference to Hokusai, but rather is a playful allusion to the Western trope of falling down a waterfall in a barrel.

Reference:
Paul Binnie: A Dialogue with the Past- The First 100 Japanese Prints, 2007, p. 129, no. 92
(inv. no. C-1943)

price: $650