Shin Hanga prints
| Design: | Paul Jacoulet (1896-1960) | |||||
| Title: | Retour d’un banquet. Corée Séoul. | |||||
| Size: | 29.8 x 39.2 cm (dai ōban) | |||||
| Original woodblock print | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Special effects: gofun (powdered seashells) on gown and shoes.
Published on 20 December 1951.
Elaborate red PJ seal on verso of the print:
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Watermark with ‘PJ’ in romaji and ‘若礼’ (i.e., Jakurei) in kanji in left margin.
Paul Jacoulet signature in black pencil and red Owl seal in bottom right of the print.
Names of carver and printer in left margin:
| Character | Translation | Character | Translation |
| 前 | 本 | ||
| 田 | Maeda | 多 | Honda |
| 謙 | 鉄 | ||
| 太 | 之 | ||
| 郎 | Kentarō | 助 | Tetsunosuke |
| 刀 | Carver | 摺 | Printer |
Print title in bottom margin: RETOUR d'un BANQUET. Coree Seoul.
This impression was printed by Honda and has a tiny black clover overprinted on the top of the hat.
On this print Miles (1982) comments: ‘This masterful design, showing a young Korean after too much festivity, was one of Jacoulet’s finest yoko-e (i.e., horizontal prints). Like the earlier Premiour amour, it shows the influence certain artists in Paris, especially Matisse, had on the young Frenchman. The numerous anatomical distortions give a logical flow that fools the eye perfectly. Note the transparancy of the formal hat, and the small overprinted design on the very top of the hat. This minuscule drawing is missing from the later impressions.’
A good example of how a print like Jacoulet’s Retour d’un Banquet can be affected by toning - an unwanted yellowing of the paper and pigments resulting from storing the print in a non acidic-free environment - can be seen here.
References
- Miles, Richard (1982). The prints of Paul Jacoulet. Pasadena: Pacific Asia Museum.
- Polak, Christian, et Sawatari, Kiyoko (2013). Un artiste voyageur en Micronésie. L’univers flottant de Paul Jacoulet. Musée du quai Branly, Paris: Somogy éditions d’art.
Provenance: Castle Fine Arts