Walter T. Foster (1891-1981) is primarily known for producing "How to Draw" books for amateur artists. Originally a one-person operation based in his garage, Foster self-published in 1919 his first book of what was to become eventually a series of more than 200 titles. Over the years Foster commissioned different artists to assist him in producing these books. Many of these artists became personal friends and he included their works in an art collection in his home in Laguna Beach, California.

At some point after 1948 Foster met Rakusan on one of his trips to Japan. Foster soon became an avid promoter and patron of Rakusan and eventually acquired a large collection of original Rakusan woodblock prints and many additional related items. A warm friendship developed and a business relationship was established. Unfortunately neither man routinely kept detailed records, but enough material survives to document the relationship in this brief summary.

Prior to 1955 Foster had undertaken three commercial tasks:

1. Foster would act as the sales agent for original Rakusan woodblock prints to be sent directly from Japan to the customer after being personally 'autographed' by Rakusan in English (romaji) script.

2. Foster would print in the United States and sell directly different sizes of photolithographic reproductions made from copies of Rakusan woodblock prints in Foster's own collection.

3. Foster would write and publish a book on Rakusan, again using his own collection for illustrations.

Although Foster was to write the book on his own, he solicited material from Rakusan specifically for inclusion in the book. Some of this had to be produced specially for the purpose even though by this time Rakusan was finding working in the studio difficult because of his failing health. As the book was being prepared Rakusan closed his studio in 1955. Since he had an immense back stock inventory of woodblock prints available, the studio closure would not have affected his ability to provide prints for Foster to sell, at least for a while. It is likely that both men initially hoped that Rakusan would be able to resume work, but he never fully recovered. Foster visited Rakusan often, and once made a special trip when Rakusan was seriously ill. Rakusan continued to sell prints from his home through the 1960s but the sales arrangement with Foster had to be halted when Rakusan could no longer do the shipping himself. Rakusan died in 1976.

After Foster died in 1981, his heirs ran the business for a while before selling it outside the family in 1988. At that time the new owners ceased reprinting all of the back titles including the Rakusan book. Since that time the business has been sold yet again. The present Walter Foster Company no longer has any contact or connection with the Foster family, but it still continues to sell similar art books as a subsidiary of a larger printing company.

Although long out of print, Foster's Rakusan book was printed and reprinted in such large numbers for over at least twenty years that it is still widely available. Most of what is generally known about Rakusan derives from this source.

The Art of Rakusan Tsuchiya Famous Printmaker of Japan [Walter Foster "How to Draw" Art Books #57] A Walter T. Foster Publication, Walter Foster Art Books, Tustin, California (no date, 32 pp.)

Although this small booklet was ostensibly part of Foster's existing "How to Draw" series, it only made a token effort in that direction. Of the twenty-seven different designs included, only four were actually used for brief drawing demonstrations. Instead the book was a essentially a promotional tract for Rakusan's art and served as a sales catalogue for the original woodblocks and reproductions sold by Foster doing business as Foster Art Service, Inc. Contrary to implications in previously published reports (Merritt and Yamada 1992, p. 157), Rakusan did not write, produce, or distribute this booklet. It and the print reproductions were Foster enterprises for which his company paid Rakusan (and later his family) regular royalties as long as the book was in print.

Rakusan had provided Foster with three photographs, including one with a hand written caption; a statement of purpose, hand written and signed in Japanese with an English translation; and an impression of one of his seals. These all appear in the booklet on the inside of the front cover (p. 2). The photos come from different periods in Rakusan's life. Also included in the booklet are twenty-four designs from the 100 Series, 2 designs from the 36 Set, and one winter card design. The single winter card design is shown as a process set with sixteen successive print impression stages as an illustration of woodblock printing technique on p.3. Three intermediate stages (of over thirty impressions) are also shown for each of the two 36 Set designs on pp. 8 and 9.

page 2

page 3

The booklet is not overtly dated, but research has narrowed the range of time during which it could have been assembled and written. The material Rakusan contributed could not have been supplied to Foster prior to 1948 nor much after 1955. Statements made by Foster in the book suggest that the latest date his text could have been completed is 1958, but the actual date of publication is perhaps as early as 1956.

The booklet is known in many slightly different versions. The original editions include sales and production information on each of the individual Rakusan prints as a single list on the inside of the back cover (p. 31). Later reprints of the booklet include most of this information about each of the prints next to the title accompanying each illustration, and the general ordering instructions for prints was moved to the top of the inside front cover (p. 2). This permitted Foster to substitute a full list of his currently available publications on the vacated space on the inside of the back cover. The date of this shift can be inferred from the fact that the original editions used an old style postal address only on p. 31. The later editions updated the address on p. 31 with a postal ZIP code (used only from 1961), and this revised address was the one also used on p. 2 with the ordering instructions.

The following material expands on inferences about the dating of material in the Foster booklet.

On p.6 Foster writes, '…. I now have a collection of his work numbering some 68 pictures and hope to have the complete hundred he started some 40 years ago….'

The citation of 'some 40 years ago' is apparently a misunderstanding by Foster. Rakusan likely dated his professional career from the beginning of his apprenticeship to Takeuchi Seiho in about 1913. However, Rakusan himself reported that he did not begin planning his series of 100 until about 1925, with the first prints appearing in 1929. Therefore, the estimated Foster date must refer to the beginning of Rakusan's career rather than to the beginning of this print series.

Because of the close relationship of the two men, it is probable that if a complete set of the one hundred large prints were still available, Foster would have obtained one. The last full set of prints from the 100 Series was sold in 1947 and delivered in 1948, therefore, the close Foster relationship with Rakusan must have developed later. Most Rakusan prints were sold individually, and although Rakusan had a huge inventory of woodblock prints printed before WWII, some popular designs had sold out. However, he did still have the original wooden blocks. It is likely that Foster, and perhaps other enthusiasts, encouraged reprinting some of the missing designs with the ultimate goal of reconstituting additional sets of the full 100 Series. However it came about, it is certain that at least three of the 100 Series illustrations in the booklet made from Foster's own copies are from this third edition.

Also on p. 6 Foster writes of his guarantee as 'backed by over 39 years of writing, drawing, and publishing these books….' If these statements are taken literally, the very latest that the Rakusan booklet could have been composed was about 1958 (from adding 39 years to 1919). However, Foster, like Rakusan, probably included some time before the first publication date in his total. It is likely that the booklet was assembled around 1955 and appeared not long thereafter, and 1958 is only the outside limit.

Three photographs and a text with seal appear on p.2.

An often reprinted picture of Rakusan in his studio appears with the addition of a unique English annotation in Rakusan's own English cursive handwriting, 'Rakusan Tsuchiya, about 23 years ago picture'. This location of the Rakusan Studio did not open until November 1931 and Rakusan recalled that the picture was taken in the early years there, suggesting that he added this caption around 1955. However, recent research has been able to identify nearly all of the minutely represented artworks shown in the background of the photograph. The dates of creation and publication of some of these designs indicate that the photograph containing them could not have been taken until 1934-1935. Copies of this photograph are first known to have been distributed to studio visitors in September 1935. The information for the caption below this photo was likely also supplied to Foster by Rakusan and reads 'Center picture is studio and the business of making prints, showing experienced helpers with Mr. Tsuchiya checking and working on large prints. To see that registration is perfect on each picture only 100 at a time are made.'

Another photograph shows a somewhat graying Rakusan seated in his studio leafing though a stack of 100 Series prints. The Foster caption reads 'At top right you see RAKUSAN at work.' Although the first edition original of this print design dates from about 1932, because Rakusan appears older, the prints shown are likely to be from back stock. Rakusan's appearance is very like that in the next photograph and both may have a similar date after WWII. The shelving unit in the background is not the same one shown on the left wall of the previous photo, but the shelf contents and other implements shown are very similar, if not identical. Since the artist was apparently still actively working in his studio at the time it had to have been taken no later than about 1955 when Rakusan is known to have closed his studio operations.

A third photograph depicts Rakusan, his wife, and three of their children, all in traditional Japanese costume, showing a woodblock to Helen Keller and her companion Polly Thompson. The photograph was taken in one of the public rooms of the Miyako Hotel in eastern Kyoto on October 11, 1948. At the time of this visit Japan was still occupied by United States forces. Miss Keller was such a high profile and important visitor that the occupation forces refused permission for her to meet Rakusan at his studio. Therefore Rakusan took his family and these woodblocks to the hotel where Miss Keller was staying. The Foster caption reads 'At left is the famous Helen Keller, who is deaf, mute and blind, feeling one of the wood carved blocks, with hours of patient carvings to reproduce the pictures in this book.' The size of the blocks indicates they are from the 100 Series, but an exact design has not yet been certainly identified.

The Rakusan Purpose Statement is a reproduction of Japanese calligraphic kanji script in Rakusan's own hand accompanied by a seal [seal J] and a hand written kanji signature. Rakusan probably also supplied Foster with the English translation that appears with it:

'As I desired to manifest the mood and taste shown on silks, my originals I pressed these wood block prints two hundred times with my unique method, and I think it is impossible to repeat another press technically.'

I think the intention was to say something like: As I desired to manifest the mood and taste shown in my silk originals, I pressed these woodblock prints two hundred times with my unique method, and I think it is technically impossible to replicate the results using any other method of printing. [Recasting mine.]

The Foster Reproductions

The original woodblock prints to be mailed from Japan were offered for sale at $25.00 each for the 100 Series and $6.00 each for the 36 Set. The dimensions were usually listed in the Foster booklet as (13" x 18") and (9" x 14"), respectively.

Four-color photolithographic reproductions to be mailed from California, and presumably produced there, were also offered. The reproductions were said to be on 'heavy paper' (p. 16), and most were reduced in size from the originals. Among the sizes listed were (6¼" x 9"), (7" x 9"), and (7" x 9¾") at $2.00 each; (9" x 12½") at $3.00 each; and near original size (12" x 18") at $6.00 each. At some point the smallest of these were also issued in a greeting card format. Some greeting cards are known to have been machine imprinted with personalized messages. However, it is not known if they could be ordered customized, or if the personalization was added by another printer after purchase. Some card size reproductions are known to have an accompanying thin tissue sheet. This insert had printed data on Rakusan and on the design depicted. A similar, larger sheet accompanies some of the other reproductions, but it is not known if all originally had them. The dimensions of these accompanying sheets are not known for certain, but all known examples are smaller than their associated reproductions.

Not all of the Rakusan reproductions sold by Foster are illustrated in booklet #57. There has to have been a list or catalogue of these additional designs which remains to be discovered. Even with the additional designs less than half of Foster's reported Rakusan collection has yet been documented. Unfortunately, the fate of Foster's art collection after his death in 1981 is unknown and there is no known list or catalogue of the any part of the collection. If anyone has information to share about any Foster reproductions not illustrated in the booklet, please contact us. There is a lot of material left to find!

© 2005 (revised 2006, 2008) Dr Michael J P Nichols