Woodblock Prints by Paul Binnie born 1967

Print by Paul Binnie
Cho Musubi - Butterfly Bow
copyright Paul Binnie

Paul Binnie was born in Scotland. In 1990 he made his MA in Fine Art (hons.), a joint degree in History of Art at Edinburgh University and Painting, Drawing and Printmaking at Edinburgh College of Art. When he was in Paris he saw Japanese woodblock prints. Paul decided to go to Japan to learn woodblock printmaking the Japanese way. After more than 6 years in Tokyo he came back to London in late 1998. Today he is one of the best known and "best expensive" artists in contemporary Japanese woodblock printmaking.

Recently the first book devoted to the art prints of the artist has been published titled Dialog with the Past. The cover of the book shows one of Paul's bijin prints Cho Musubi.

Gallery of Paul Binnie Prints

This page presents 10 selected woodblock prints by Paul Binnie. The subjects to which Paul has devoted his creations so far are the Japanese kabuki theater, male nudes, tattoo prints, Japanese landscape prints, a series of cloud prints, bijin prints (images of beautiful Japanese women) and as latest creations two landscape prints in the footsteps of Hiroshi Yoshida, an image of the Grand Canyon and one of the Acropolis in Athens.

Kabuki Prints

Print by Paul Binnie
Ebi Zori - Backbend
copyright Paul Binnie

When Paul was in Tokyo, he lived in Sendagaya, not far away from the Theater district. Binnie became a frequent guest at the Noh Theater and developed an at least equal interest in the traditional Kabuki Theater.

These two different but both very old and traditional Japanese theater forms had caught his interest. The artistic outcome of this theater passion were a series of kabuki woodblock and stencil prints and several oil paintings with scenes from the noh theater.

One of his major woodblock works is called Ebi Zori - Backbend. Binnie described the print himself:

"The actor Bando Tamasaburo appears as the spirit of the Cherry Tree in the Kabuki play "Seki no To" performing a backbend known as Ebizori (literally prawn bend). The tree is threatened by an evil character, Sekibei, wielding a huge axe. She bends like a prawn to escape the enormous blade."

To our knowledge no copies of this design produced in an edition of 50 are any more available by the artist. This print is now a rare pieces.

Stencil Prints

Ichikawa Danjuro - Genroku Mie
Stencil Print
copyright Paul Binnie

Produced only in 25 copies, Ichikawa Danjuro - Genroku Mie is another of the early rare prints. Ichikawa Danjuro - Genroku Mie is a major work by Paul Binnie. It is printed on a soft, handmade Japanese paper, and it is huge with a paper size of ca. 100 by 65 cm. The artist made this work towards the end of his "apprenticeship" under master printer Seki Kenji.

Binnie made the following description:

"Made on a full sheet of Japanese paper to show the enormous size of this costume. Its square sleeves are supported by two stage assistants. The "Genroku mie" or "Genroku pose" is the high point of the play Shibaraku by which the main character Gongoro displays his strength and power. He towers above the other actors, standing on high wooden geta (clogs) which are concealed inside his long nagabakama (trousers). Kappa-ban (stencil print)."

This is one of ca. a dozen stencil prints that the artist has made so far.

Early Landscapes

Woodblock Print by Paul Binnie
Snow at Asakusa
copyright Paul Binnie

Paul made only a handful of landscape prints during his Tokyo years. The three major works are Moon over Shinobazu and Snow at Asakusa and Cherry Blossoms at Ueno. They received wide attention when they were shown at the American Club in Tokyo. It was the first public exhibition success of Binnie.

Asakusa in the Snow was made between January and February of 1998. The technique used is the classical Japanese woodblock.

Male Nudes

Print by Paul Binnie
Shower
copyright Paul Binnie

Binnie has produced ca. a dozen art prints showing male nudes. The more recent ones made after 2004, have mostly been published in two versions - a "plain" nude version and another version with the same design but a tattoo on the male torso.

Images of erotic male nudes are by the way presumably the reason why Binnie left the United Kingdom shortly after his MA graduation. Some of Paul's final exhibition works had been removed from the show of graduates works without his permission by the Principle of the College of Art for "obscenity". Binnie was upset and frustrated.

The edition size of this design is 30. It was made between February and May 2006. There is also a tattoo version titled Hokusai's Waterfall.

Cloud Prints

Print by Paul Binnie
Gyogetsu
copyright Paul Binnie

After his return from Tokyo, Binnie did not make any woodblock prints for two years. He was busy with a few privately commissioned portraits and a theater project in London. But one day he decided to make a series of cloud woodblock prints and sent them to the annual CWAJ (College Women of Japan) art show - presumably the most important art exhibition of contemporary woodblock prints in Japan. The series was a success for Paul and he decided to go on with Japanese woodblocks.

By the way, the sketches for the cloud series were made during the night on Binnie's balcony. What you see is the sky over London.

Views of Japan

Paul Binnie
Torii at Miyajima
copyright Paul Binnie

"Miyajima no Torii (Torii at Miyajima). The torii at Miyajima. This famous torii (the ritual gateway leading to the Shinto shrine) is built on tidal flats which is completely exposed at low tide. At high tide, the huge red torii looks like floating on the water surface. It is the welcoming gate for the spirits and the visitors from the sea for Itsukushima Shrine on the Miyajima island." (text by Paul Binnie).

Torii at Miyajima was made between February and March 2003. The edition size is 100.

Tattoo Prints

Stencil print
created 1994

Paul Binnie
Blue
copyright Paul Binnie

Tattoo prints are among the popular subjects of Binnie. Binnie had made designs during his Tokyo years. But they had never been shown to the public. It was in 2002 when we approached Binnie, who is not only a creator of great new prints, but also a collector of great old ukiyo-e if he happened to have any prints with tattoo subjects to consign. To our surprise he came forward with his OWN tattoo prints.

The first prints he entrusted us to sell were Blue Smoke and Tattoo 1 and Tattoo 2 in small formats and for very little money. They sold like hot potatoes. Today they are sold out and rare. Since then Binnie publishes every now and then a new tattoo design or makes special tattoo version of male or female nudes.

Another popular and early tattoo print is Blue:

"Ao" (Blue) A modified version of "Ogon" in vivid purple-blue tone. Tattoo in red and blue on the right upper arm and shoulder which depicts maple leaves falling into a stream below."

Female Nudes

Published in 2004
Limited edition of 30

Woodblock by Paul Binnie
Engawa - Veranda
copyright Paul Binnie

"Engawa" (Veranda). This print was originally commissioned in 2004 by Saru Gallery in an edition size of only 30. Paul Binnie himself regards "engawa" (Japanese word for "veranda") as one of his best designs. To our knowledge this design is sold out - if not, please expect a high price. If you are interested, contact Eric van den Ing from Saru Gallery.

Binnie has also published a cheaper tattoo version of Engawa in his usual edition size of 100.

Bijin Prints

Paul Binnie
copyright Paul Binnie

'Natsu' (summer) from the series 'shiki' (4 seasons). This whole edition was commissioned by Bruce Tierney and Barry Stokes. The commission was placed under the condition to create a series of four most elaborate and lavish bijin prints that a skilled artist could possibly create. The creation of shiki was one of the most expensive projects in modern Japanese printmaking with professional Japanese live models and frequent travels by the artist between Tokyo, London and Tennessee (U.S.A.). The whole series was started in springtime of 2003 and could be completed in 2005. Summer was the first of the 4 prints released.

Summer has an edition size of 50.

In my personal liking Summer is the most beautiful out of the set of four.

Views of the World

Paul Binnie has studied the old ukiyo-e and shin hanga masters very intensively. Among them Hiroshi Yoshida is one of the artist's most revered masters. Inspired by Yoshida, Paul has recently made two designs in the foot steps of this great shin hanga artist. It is Grand Canyon and the Acropolis at Night in Athens.

Binnie likes to choose subjects from great shin hanga masters. Kendall H. Brown describes this in his essay in the Binnie biography Dialog with the Past as "playful manipulations" and "dialog with the old masters". In my view there could be more behind. Binnie is ambitious and technically superior. It is not exaggerated to see him in many regards as a lonely carp in the pond of today's hanga printmakers. I think Binnie wants to compare his strength with the old masters.

Binnie's draftsmanship enables him to carve and print himself, while shin hanga artists like Hasui Kawase made only the sketches and handed them over to skillful, professional carvers and printers. Among the shin hanga artists only Hiroshi Yoshida was cabable of doing this job by himself.

While Acropolis was a commission work by a Greek shipping magnate and is therefore not available from the artist, the woodblock print Cloud Shadows, Grand Canyon started as a commission work, but is now sold by the artists and by art dealers. The "commission" ended in a different and long story. Binnie wrote an interesting essay about the creation of this print. Please read Cloud Shadows, Grand Canyon.

Video Presentation of Paul Binnie

Click for Video
copyright protected

We produced a video with a short presentation of Paul Binnie. Please click on the image or on the link to go to the video page.

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