NANDALAL BOSE (1882-1966)

"Many of these reproductions were printed in Japan by the expert technicians of Kokka, a well known Japanese art periodical. The images were reproduced by Japanese woodblock printing method [...] Japan has a long tradition of woodblock printing, and Kokka color prints of Bengal School paintings are matchless in their beauty and technical excellence. The first thing that you would notice in a woodblock print is the total absence of those half-tone screen patterns with their constant disturbing suggestion that the image you see is mass produced by a machine. Next is the tactile sensation of the paper on which the print has been made. Unlike so-called art paper, which was almost exclusively used to print color half-tone reproductions, the handmade Japanese woodblock papers are much pleasant to touch. Combined with this was the superb skill of the Japanese printmakers, pulling each impression with perfect color registration" (S. Ukil, "Kokka Woodblock Reproductions of Early Neo-Bengal School Paintings", Mukul Dey Archives website, accessed January 2022).