Saturday, September 5, 2009

Year of the Monkey Postcards

About a week ago Amy at Aqua Velvet posted some remarkable Japanese Postcards from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Here are more Japanese postcards from the same collection, all related to the Year of the Monkey ( ).


Monkey Trainer from Towa shinpo, Ogawa Usen, 1908

"Born 2004, 1992, 1980, 1968, 1956, 1944, 1932, 1920, 1908. People born in the year of the Monkey are the erratic geniuses of the Zodiac cycle. They are clever and skillful in grand-scale operations and are smart when making financial deals. They are inventive, original and are able to solve the most difficult problems with ease." -Namiko Abe, about.com


The Monkey in Morning Suit of New Year's cards, unknown artist, 1932


The Monkey Celebrating with Ozoni of New Year's cards, unknown artist, 1932


The Monkey's Baseball of New Year's cards, unknown artist, 1932


The Monkey's Rugby of New Year's cards, unknown artist, 1932


The Monkey Pounding Rice (Osaru no mochitsuki) of New Year's cards, unknown artist, 1932


The Monkey's Playing Ball (Osaru no hogan nage) of New Year's cards, unknown artist, 1932


Monkey and Crab, Takahashi Haruka, 1932


Three Monkeys with Spade Shape Motifs, Takahashi Haruka, 1932


Monkey in the Guise of a Shinto Priest, Takahashi Haruka, 1932


Takahashi Haruka, 1932


Takahashi Haruka, 1932


Takahashi Haruka, 1932


Takahashi Haruka, 1932


Takahashi Haruka, 1932 [?]


Three Monkeys: See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil, Takahashi Haruka, 1932

-
Boston's Museum of Fine Arts Japanese Postcards Collection [link]
Information about the Year of the Monkey in the Japanese Zodiac @ about [link]

13 comments:

Amy@AQ-V said...

Hi Joel! Wow, you hit the monkey mother load. :) These are so fantastic, love all of your selections... especially am digging the See/Hear/Speak No Evil. You have such great content on your blog, wonderfully interesting and eclectic... just perfect.

Hey, and thanks so much for shout out link! You're a gem. :)

Unknown said...

thanks so much.beautiful!

said...

Love the art, don't love the
astro-voodoo.

Rômulo said...

amazing!

Unknown said...

hi joel,thank you for your comment and for being my first follower!
i will be digging through your awesome blog and waiting for more beautiful posts,i really enjoy it.
all the best & saludos

Robynn's Ravings said...

Hey Joel! Found you through Holli in Ghana. Had to go to Africa to find a fellow Californian. :)

Love your featured art. I definitely be following. You make me feel like I'm at a museum. Speaking of which, what are the odds you could pull together a Wayne Thiebaud exhibit? My daughter and I are wild fans but it's SO hard to lay hold of any but his simpler works, like his food. What we're in love with are his works featuring San Francisco and also his extraordinary landscapes. He's still living. Wish we could meet him.

Oh, and nice to meet YOU! Blessings. :)

Robynn's Ravings said...

The sentence that says, "I definitely be following" should be corrected to reflect the contraction "I'll." Another proof, as if I needed one, that one should ALWAYS read what one writes! :)

(And I didn't mean an actual exhibit but rather a retrospective you featured on your blog.) *sigh* Perhaps it's time to be done for the day. lol

souvenir pernikahan said...

postcard your monkey is the best can i make wedding souvenir ??

Juan Carlos Solon said...

Just visted your blog from Drawn.
I really enjoy all the wonderful posts!! Keep up the great posts!

Anonymous said...

Monkeys! It’s adorable! I love the sports monkey.

prepaid game card said...

I love the different activities of these monkeys, very athletic monkeys.

Removalist Melbourne said...

It’s beautiful monkey art.

Robynn's Ravings said...

Thanks for dropping by, Joel. You'll LOVE Thiebaud I'm thinkin'! :)

 
*please cite or link when reposting*