Heren — ヘレン

Cyanotype by Katsushika Hokusai ( woodblock print circa 1833)

In our recent trip to Buenos Aires we were not able to go to the San Telmo (the oldest neighbourhood of the city) Sunday market. We managed to go the day before. Amongst all the stuff, I spotted something that looked to be a pristine cyanotype in an 6x7 inch size. I bargained and got it for the equivalent of $10 US.

Imagine my surprise when I investigated (I contacted my former Japanese student Hiroshi Suyama who is now a curator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photograpy) and found out that it was a cyanotype circa 1833 probably done by Katsushika Hokusai.

Suyama told me that the print if it is the real thing could be worth many thousands of dollars.

Originally published at blog.alexwaterhousehayward.com.