Kōrin Picture Album (Kōrin gafu 光琳画譜): [volume 2] 1827 - 1868

This is a page from the ‘Kōrin Picture Album,’ a woodblock-printed book created by Nakamura Hōchū in Japan, sometime before 1819. The scene depicts figures in a longboat, rendered in the style of the earlier artist, Kōrin. This album is a reproduction, but what does it mean to reproduce art? The Kōrin school was named after Ogata Kōrin, who died a century before Hōchū made this print. The album participates in a commercial logic. Kōrin's designs had become a valuable brand, and the album allowed other artists, and their patrons, to participate in a recognizable cultural style. It's a kind of artistic remix, common in the period. To better understand this album we can look at the history of publishing in Japan and the development of distinct schools of painting. The role of artistic lineage, of ‘schools’ and ‘styles’ is something a historian can help to illuminate, revealing the reproduction’s place within the Japanese art world.