Main Gate of the Grand Temple, Nikko - Louis Gonse Art Print

$25USD
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  • Printed in USA, UK, EU & AUS
  • Archival grade fine art paper and canvas
  • Giclée printing stays vibrant up to 100 years
  • FSC® paper & wood + non-toxic pigment inks

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Climb the stone steps and the Kara Mon rises out of cedar shadow, a chalk-white Chinese gate guarding the Tama-Gaki of the mausoleum of Iye-Yasu at Nikko. Here Tokugawa Ieyasu sleeps as a god, renamed the Great Avatar Illuminating the East. His grandson Iemitsu rebuilt Toshogu Shrine in 1636 with a warlord's appetite for ornament. Gofun, crushed from oyster shell, once coated this gate like frost.

This vintage wood engraving strips Nikko of gold leaf. What survives is obsession, cut in ink. Black hatching crawls over every bracket. Hollyhock crests of the Tokugawa clan stud the roof like rivets hammered into dynasty. Dragons coil up both pillars, scale by scale under the burin. The cusped karahafu gable swells like a held tide.

Look through the doorway. A bell rope hangs still, waiting for a pilgrim's tug. Cryptomeria foliage scratches the sky above in nervous loops.

Edo-period Japanese shrine architecture, pressed flat into a black and white art print. Today the Shrines and Temples of Nikko hold UNESCO World Heritage status. This vintage architectural art print lingers in the older moment of first sight. Black ink on bone paper. A gate still waiting for a stranger's hand.

Origin Story

Louis Gonse (1846–1921) was a Parisian art historian, critic and curator who helped shape how late nineteenth-century France looked at Japanese art. Trained in law and drawn first to Gothic art through classes at the École Nationale des Chartes, he turned eastward, publishing his first essay on Japanese art in Le Moniteur Universel in 1873. As Editor-in-Chief of the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, he steered the venerable journal through the height of Japonisme.

In 1883 he staged a landmark retrospective in Paris and published L'Art japonais, a two-volume survey of painting, lacquer, ceramics, textiles and ukiyo-e prints, from Hokusai to Hiroshige, prepared with the Japanese dealer and connoisseur Hayashi Tadamasa. Knighted in the Legion of Honor and awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gonse also championed France's historic monuments and national museums, and served as mayor of Cormeilles-en-Parisis.

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Any 2 wall art treasures = 10% off
Any 3 = 15% off
Any 5 = 20% off

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Produced on Demand

Produced after you purchase at print labs across the US, UK, EU & AUS. Significantly minimising landfill waste by only making things people actually want.

Production Time

Produced, quality checked, packed with care and handed to trusted shipping carriers within 72-96 hours on average.

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Cost

Free shipping to Continental United States, Canada, UK, EU, Australia, New Zealand & more: see full list here.

Production + Delivery =

US: 4-9 days • Canada: 5-12 days • UK: 4-9 days • EU: 5-10 days • AUS: 4-9 days • NZ: 5-12 days • Rest of the world: 3-4 weeks

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Sent carbon neutral at no extra charge.

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Canvas stretched over FSC®-certified, knot-free European pine. Milled with a curved profile to prevent pressure marks and surface cracks.

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