| Notes (this edition)?: |
| The following information was taken from the original web listing of this artwork. Note that there may be some inaccuracies:
Charles Bartlett’s The Golden Temple Amritsar
This beautiful Charles W. Bartlett woodblock print is entitled " The Golden Temple Amritsar " it is signed, dated and gift inscribed on the lower margin. This print is listed as number 25 in the Bartlett catalogue, “A Printmaker in Paradise” by Miles and Saville. The image is 9 7/8 inches tall and 15 1/8 inches wide with full margins. The lower left corner contains Bartlett’s monogram CWB in a double rectangle along with the title in the block and the copyright stamp. The print is signed in ink and inscribed in pencil by the artist in the lower margin as follows, ”Charles W. Bartlett, New Years Greetings, To Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Wall from Mr. & Mrs. Bartlett 1928.” The condition is very good with very small punctures in the monogram, lower left and upper right margin. There is also a curved abrasion or scratch about an inch long, just above the skyline between the temple and the tree on the right. The upper margin shows the remains of paper hinges. There are just hints of slight creases that are visible only upon very close examination. Now that I have disclosed all of the possible faults, I must state that this is an excellent example of Charles W. Bartlett’s woodblock art that he and his wife presented to their friends as a New Years Present over 75 years ago. A presentation inscription on Bartlett’s work is considered very rare.
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| Artist Bio: |
Charles William Bartlett (1860-1940) was one of the first artists to work with the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo. Bartlett studied at the Royal Academy in London and at Academie Julian in Paris. Until his travels to Japan, Ceylon, Indonesia, and China in 1913, Bartlett worked primarily as a landscape and genre painter. In 1915 he met famous print publisher Watanabe, with whom he collaborated on the publication of a number of "shin hanga" style colour woodblock prints during the next decade, using Watanabe's studio to carve and create his own woodblocks. Bartlett designed 38 woodblock prints for Watanabe, beginning in 1916 and lasting through 1925. Twenty-two of these prints were produced within the first year, many with the date 1916 carved into the key block. The first series of prints consisted of six Indian scenes plus a cover print of the Taj Mahal. This was followed by a series of six Japanese scenes. Many of Bartlett's prints and etchings were scenes from his travels through Southeast Asia, China, and later Hawaii. After 1917, Bartlett settled in Hawaii where he remained for the rest of his life.
It is little known that in actual fact Bartlett commissioned Watanabe to publish his 38 scenes, rather than being an artist working for Watanabe, and from his base in Hawaii Bartlett held a very tight reign over Watanabe's production of each scene, requesting numerous fine colour changes for each scene. Because each of the scenes were commissioned and thus paid for by Bartlett , he maintained ownership of all the woodblocks, which were shipped back to Hawaii after each edition and are still kept in Hawaii even to this day.
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