Old Photo of the Imperial Hotel

[Tom]

Interesting connection peterm. Also makes me think of Marin CC.

[peterm]

Oh, I was merely showing another copper Japanese roof, though there might be an architectural connection beyond that...

[josquin]

Here's a post card with the Imperial Hotel and the Graf Zeppelin circa 1929. It's interesting to note this paring of two very contemporary constructions placed in a very traditional depiction of mount Fuji. A nice aerial view of the copper roof. The translation of the Japanese in the red box is Imperial hotel.

[RonMcCrea]

What a great postcard! Those fine brushstrokes make it look like a real antique. Do the arms of the hotel seem out of proportion? Too long? It looks like the Sphinx. The little blue pool is a wonderful accent.

[Tom]

The Sphinx; although a world away, yet another interesting connection.

[josquin]

The reference to Hiroshige's views of Mt fuji is unmistakable. The addition of the Zeppelin and hotel are, at the very least, very odd.

[RonMcCrea]

Here's an image I found on Flickr of the same scene as a menu cover commemorating the zeppelin's visit in August, 1929. It was taken by a Japanese photographer in a showcase at an exhibition. The colors aren't nearly as good.

There's another echo here -- the dirigible appears to be preparing to dock on Mt. Fuji, just like the Empire State Building.

[RonMcCrea]

Here is another old view of the Imperial, hand-tinted and actually printed on a wafer of wood -- possibly balsa. There is no date.

[RonMcCrea]

Here is the reverse side of the wooden card:

[SDR]

As we see, there were several native interpretations of the copper roofs of the Imperial !

A feature of the block-print medium is that each block may be inked in any color, so that the same image may be re-presented in a different range of hues. The Yoshidas, father and/or son, made use of this feature more than once, producing sets of prints which seem to depict the same scene in different lights and weathers.

I wasn't able to find a suitable image of the Sphinx to compare to an aerial view of the Imperial Hotel. The possible association sticks in the mind, nevertheless . . .


"Wood-paper" is available today (for business cards, etc). The material is structurally viable only by virtue of its composition as a three-layer lamination: thin veneer on either face of a plastic or paper film. Balsa wouldn't seem a good choice for printed matter, I think, as the extreme softness of the fibers would tend to blur an inked image ?

SDR

[josquin]

Here are some depictions of the Imperial Hotel by some Japanese sosaku hanga, or creative print movement, artists.

The first is by Takashi Henmi from the series One Hundred Views of New Tokyo circa 1930.


This next view is by Koizumi Koshio from 1936. This is from his series One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Period.


These are quite different depictions of the entrance.

[ross]

http://paradiseleased.wordpress.com/201 ... ial-hotel/

[SpringGreen]

Ross, those are amazing - they have lovely shades of gray. It looks like they were scanned from negatives (or glass plates?).