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Paul Binnie

Cho Musubi - 2005
copyright Paul Binnie

From October 27 until October 30 artelino organized a retrospective print show of Paul Binnie's art works on paper in the form of an auction - auction no. 230. This little essay gives some insights how the idea for this retrospective was born and tries to give a wrap up of the artist's printmaking activities from the early 1990s until October 2005.

The Beginning

We found Paul Binnie on the internet in 2001. This was the beginning of an exciting and pleasant cooperation. We started to deal with Binnie's prints and over the years we accompanied and commented his further career in a series of publications.

Retrospective

Paul Binnie

Engawa - Veranda, 2005
copyright Paul Binnie

'Retro' means 'back' or 'backwards'. For artelino it is a step forward and the fulfillment of an old dream - a solo show with Paul Binnie on our auction site. Although we have been selling Paul's prints with good success since 2001, we did not have the courage for a solo show. And Paul Binnie is not a person that jumps easily into an uncertain undertaking.

However in July 2005 we had organized a group show and auction with Yuji Hiratsuka, Tom Kristensen and Paul Binnie. Each artist was represented with 10 prints, and Paul Binnie's prints were all sold but one. This auction encouraged us to propose to Paul a single show. Everybody brought in his ideas, and out came a project of 78 prints - covering nearly the complete print oeuvre - starting in 1993 and ending with Binnie's latest creation from October 2005 - Cho Musubi, a bijin design in woodblock technique.

Bringing Things Together

Paul Binnie

Nabu - Summer, 2003
copyright Paul Binnie

The preparations began in early September. The prints were sent to us from different sources. All 78 prints are for sale. Among them are all major works. Some may never have been shown in public. Many early works have not been available on the market for years. For some designs we could even get the number one copy or the last copy available.

Major source for our preparations was a copy of Paul Binnie's studio diary. Without the intensive cooperation of the artist and some of his dealers, this show would have been impossible. During this phase of preparations, Binnie was under double stress. He was working feverishly on his latest design - Cho Musubi, which we selected as the flagship image for the event.

We think we can now proudly announce a unique event. Art collectors and art aficionados have never before had the chance to enjoy and buy from such a complete collection of Paul Binnie's prints.

Art Periods?

Paul Binnie

Aka Fuji - Red Fuji, 2002
copyright Paul Binnie

Paul Binnie's art is characterized by continuity and by a German saying "Art comes from Artisanship" ("Kunst kommt von Können"). While Pablo Picasso changed his art styles more often than his lovers, a comparable categorization of Paul Binnie's printmaking oeuvre into anything like a "Blue Period" or "Cubist Period" will fail. But Binnie's creations show preferences for certain subjects and techniques during certain periods of his life.

The following is an attempt of a wrap-up of Paul Binnie's mainstream art phases and at the same time a short wrap-up of the artist's biography.

Kabuki and Noh Theater

After Binnie had graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 1990, he went to Paris, a city to which he has been connected ever since in a kind of hate-love. Fascinated by Japanese ukiyo-e, the young artist came to Tokyo in springtime of 1993 to learn the correct techniques of carving and printing. His teacher was Seki Kenji. Later Paul should refer to the years from 1993 to 1994 as his apprenticeship with Seki Kenji.

Binnie lived in Sendagaya in Tokyo, a few streets from the National Noh Theater. Noh and kabuki theater became a passion for him. And Binnie began a stunning series of kabuki prints. Some were made in woodblock technique, others as stencils. Besides printmaking, Binnie was also active in oil painting - mostly scenes from the Noh theater.

Clouds over London

Paul Binnie

Asakusa in the Snow, 1998
copyright Paul Binnie

In 1998 - after nearly 7 years in Japan - the artist returned to London. It was a time when he was still unsure in which direction he should go. He concentrated on painting and did not make any prints for two years. But when he published a web site with his print works from the Tokyo years and received some lively demand for them, the tide turned in favor of making prints in Japanese style. Binnie made a series of ca. 10 cloud prints in woodblock technique. He sketched the clouds from the balcony of his London studio. The cloud prints got a warm reception at the CWAJ print show in Tokyo.

Views of Japan

Binnie had created 4 landscape prints during his years in Tokyo - one even as a reduction woodblock print. In 2002 he started the series Famous Views of Japan. By October 2005 four different designs of this series have been finished - Red Fuji, Miyajima Torii, Himeji Castle and Sankeien Garden.

Tattoo Prints

Paul Binnie

Ebi Zori - Backbend, 1997
copyright Paul Binnie

Paul Binnie had made several excellent tattoo prints during his Tokyo years. But he had never shown them in public. We discovered them more by chance during an exchange of e-mails and convinced Paul to introduce them via artelino to a larger audience. Demand was lively and Binnie's interest in the subject was rekindled. Since then he has made several new tattoo designs.

Bijin - Beautiful Women

In 2003 we were struck by an outstanding surprise. Paul Binnie had announced a series of 4 bijin prints - 'The Four Seasons'. The series had been commissioned by Bruce Tierney and Barry Stokes, two art dealers from the U.S. Binnie had to our knowledge never done a bijin ('beautiful woman') print before. The first print - 'Summer' - was stunning. A milestone in Binnie's career and in the history of modern Japanese printmaking of the 21st century.

The fourth and last print of 'The Four Seasons' was completed in July 2005. The success of this series encouraged Binnie to hold on to this genre for a while. 'Engawa' was commissioned by Saru Gallery, then followed Murasaki and finally - just in time for this retrospective - Paul Binnie released Cho Musubi.

Attempt of an Assessment

Paul Binnie

Ichikawa Danshiro in Gohiikikanjincho, 1996
copyright Paul Binnie

When we 'found' Paul Binnie and saw his prints from his Tokyo years, we were sure that he would become one of the greatest artists of the 21st century. He has not disappointed us since then and continues to make his way. Our opinion about Paul may sound daring. Apart from our guts feelings, we want to give you a few good reasons:

• While the 20th century over-emphasized creativity, the 21st century will see a shift-back to artisanship.
• We do not know of any other contemporary Japanese or Western artist in Japanese style who masters the same artisanship as Binnie does.
• Paul is capable to cover the whole spectrum of traditional Japanese print subjects while so many contemporary Japanese artists concentrate on a limited range of subjects and hang on to one style once it proved commercially successful.
• In a global world, Paul is a truly global artist - at home in England, France, Japan and the U.S.A. as well. His style is pleasing and attracts an international public. There are for instance many excellent Japanese artists, well-known, appreciated and selling at high prices in Japan. However their art works are a small and hard to sell niche outside Japan. Their prints are too much catered for the Japanese market.
• In hindsight Binnie's art training looks like it was designed only for this one purpose: to make him prepared for a career in Japanese printmaking. When Paul started to create art prints - those listed in his studio diary - he was already a 'completed' artist. We do not know anything immature by him.

Binnie Prints are Cheap.

Paul Binnie

Masaoka, 1995
copyright Paul Binnie

Traditionally the career of artists has depended on how well they sold in conventional galleries and how well they could cooperate with the art market of dealers, galleries, publishers and museums. Paul Jacoulet is a good example of a great artist who was too excentric and difficult to cooperate smoothly with the established art market, and who could not market himself well either.

Binnie works with traditional galleries, and he is in our view an excellent and cooperative partner for any person that deals in art. But Binnie has also - as one of very few - begun early to use the internet to make himself known and to sell his art. That makes him more independant and at the same time the costs of bringing his art to the collectors are lower.

Some art buyers who are used to USD 50 reserves in online auctions of Japanese prints, may consider Binnie's prints as high-priced. They are actually not, they are cheap - even the ones for for which you pay USD 1,000 or more.

Paul Binnie

Yanone, 1994
copyright Paul Binnie

Prints by Paul Binnie are created with a huge input of time, effort and costs. His latest creation, Cho Musubi for instance required 14 different woodblocks and was printed in 27 colors. Binnie cuts the blocks himself. And he prints most editions himself - on the finest hand-made Japanese papers available on the market. Most Binnie prints were printed with lush features like mica, gofun, embossing or metallic pigments. Some print series like the 'Four Seasons' were printed in Japan - by master printer Itakura.

To assess prices of prints by Binnie you have to consider the edition size of course. The usual size for new major designs is 100 - small enough to assure the individuality of such an art work and keep or increase its value over time.

Collector Tips

Paul Binnie

Ichikawa Danjuro - Genroku Mie, 1994
copyright Paul Binnie

Silk screen prints by Andy Warhol that sold in the 1970/80s for USD 1,000, are now auctioned for USD 10,000. The major works usually achieve the highest prices. If you want to build up a small or large collection of prints by Paul Binnie, we recommend that you put the emphasis on buying the major works and the early works with a small edition. By a rule of thumb, those prints with a reserve of above USD 500 will in our view turn out to be the best investment on long run. And if you have a chance of getting a number one copy (like 1/100), it is worth spending a little more for it.

Also subjects are a factor for the development of value. Landscapes, 'bijin' and tattoo prints are more popular than kabuki actor portraits. But you should not neglect the latter either. They are the earlier works, have a small edition and are rare on the market. But in the end your decision should be made on what YOU like. It is nice to see a value increase for your art purchases. But it is much nicer to possess a piece of art that enjoys you and makes you happy and proud of being the owner when you look at it after years - and the art work does not lose any of its original fascination.

Most of the prints that Binnie had created during his Tokyo years, have gone up in price. The number of impressions available in the market has dwindled over the last years. Therefore you should not be astonished to find some prints now for reserves of up to USD 1,000. As said before, these are the best buys in our view.

artelino used to offer the more recent tattoo and landscape prints for a reserve of USD 420 - see our archive. You find them in the retrospective auction now for USD 400. Don't conclude a price decline for these prints. It is small but nice goodie gesture for which we had asked Paul to celebrate this retrospective.

artelino is not the only one ...

Paul Binnie

Blue, 1994
copyright Paul Binnie

... to offer prints by Paul Binnie. There is a bunch more - dealers and galleries. You find the complete list on the Paul Binnie Homepage.

Dieter and Yorie
(October 2005)

More about Paul Binnie

Cho Musubi
Cloud Shadows, Grand Canyon
Furo Agari
Hokusai no Taki
Kabuki prints by Paul Binnie
Kunisada's Danjuro
Mount Fuji
Paul Binnie Biography
Paul Binnie Resumé
Paul Binnie Retrospective
Paul Binnie - Edo Sumi
Sankeiden Gardens
Torii at Miyajima
Utamaro no Shunga
Yamagata no Yamadera

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Western Artists in Japan