Art Sunday; Japanese Bird and flower prints.

Bairei Flower and Bird Prints 1883

After a long but satisfying day in the garden I thought I’d be too late to post an Art Sunday but; the first thing I came across on the computer was these. They are just too beautiful not to share, and for me a perfect end to a day being almost blown away in the garden.
They are  stunning woodblock prints from 1883 by  Bairei Kono a  renowned artist in the bird and flower painting school (kacho-ga) in the imperial city of Kyoto. Bairei started painting  at the age of just 8 in the Maruyama School of naturalist painting. At 27, he transferred to the Nanga School, which concentrates on painting natural history and botanical subjects. He was instrumental in establishing the Kyoto School of Painting before retiring to open his own studio to other painters.
His woodblock prints of birds and flowers are among the most revered and famous in Japan. He placed his subjects in their natural surroundings in compositions of skill and accuracy. This was the height of the Japanese woodblock printing of the late 1800’s (Meiji Period). Bairei’s skill as an artist, combined with his technical ability as one of the very best wood block carvers of the era to allowed him to produce a work as beautiful as this.Each woodblock in the series was printed from six or seven blocks, to produce an image of vibrant colour and beauty. The red chop of Bairei is on each one.