Inkttekeningen - de eerste reeks 1880

Curator: These are the “Inkttekeningen - de eerste reeks”, or “Ink Drawings – The First Series,” a collection of prints and ink drawings on paper by Tanomura Chokunyū, dating to 1880. They reside here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: You know, they remind me of old personal journals, like secret notebooks filled with… potential. There’s something intimate about them, even from this distance. A promise of untold stories tucked within those pages. Curator: Yes, the covers, though seemingly simple, carry symbolic weight. The hand-drawn type and titles, “Ink Drawings, First Series”, connect directly to the tradition of Ukiyo-e, yet point toward a personalized evolution. Note also the repetition and variation, suggestive of chapters in a longer visual narrative. Editor: Definitely seeing a scrapbook vibe—but so spare, you know? Just the covers showing, teasing what could be inside. It's got this tension between the mundane and the magical, doesn't it? Makes you want to crack one open and peek at the secrets. Or maybe sketch something inside yourself! Curator: Ukiyo-e often reflects everyday life and transient beauty. The aged paper speaks to the ephemeral nature of time and memory, and also the permanence of recorded artistic creation. Editor: It’s fascinating to think about who held these, you know? Who flipped through them, what their lives were like? You get this ghostly echo, like the past is breathing right there on the paper. And they have such a quiet beauty about them. Curator: Considering Chokunyū's engagement with tradition and also his own exploration of form, these sketchbooks mark the genesis of something quite profound. These covers serve as portals—not just to drawings, but to ideas in progress. Editor: Absolutely! Well, I feel inspired to start a sketchbook myself now…maybe I'll learn to do some hand-drawn fonts, very carefully. Curator: Perhaps the greatest lesson these volumes teach is that every image carries a thread of cultural memory.