September 7, 2010

Strange Parameters


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Yoshitaka Nakao, Evening Shower, 1971
Yoshitaka Nakao (born 1911), Evening Shower, 1971
"He was a mostly self-taught printmaker, although he did some work with Azechi Umetaro" (also featured below)



Takei Takeo, Circus Tightrope Walkers, 1952
Takei Takeo, Circus Tightrope Walkers, 1952
also see: Takei Takeo Lab of Ornithology and Children's Day in Japan, 1936



Asaji Kobayashi 1898-1939 - Kobayashi Exhibition Poster
Asaji Kobayashi (1898-1939) - Kobayashi Exhibition Poster
Another nice one


Masao Ikeda, Death in Paradise, 1965 (lithography)
Masao Ikeda, Death in Paradise, 1965 (lithography)
Found in The Contemporary Artist in Japan


Yoshitoshi (1839-1892), 1890
Yoshitoshi (1839-1892), 1890
Featured once before (bug-eyed earth spider, scroll down)
Recommended viewing if you like this style: one of the all-time most popular posts on this blog: The Strange Visions of Utagawa Kuniyoshi.



Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), Doll in Court Dress (Gosho Doll)
Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), Doll in Court Dress (Gosho Doll)
A surprising (to me) work by an artist known for the nighttime townscapes as seen in this post.



Koson Ohara 1877-1945 - Dancing Fox
Koson Ohara 1877-1945 - Dancing Fox



Nagase Yoshiro, Nodachi Kannon, not dated
Nagase Yoshiro, Nodachi Kannon, not dated

A google search reveals that I once featured him. This bio mentions his involvement with an avant-garde magazine named Kamen -- I will definitely investigate.



Fumio Fujita born 1933 - Flying - E
Fumio Fujita born 1933 - Flying - E



Fumio Fujita born 1933 - Inside a Cage - A
Fumio Fujita born 1933 - Inside a Cage - A



Fumio Fujita born 1933 - Mask - A
Fumio Fujita born 1933 - Mask - A



Shinjiro Okamoto, One Indian...1964
Shinjiro Okamoto, One Indian...1964
Found in The Contemporary Artist in Japan
There isn't much online about this artist, though see x and y, and this exhibition description. The Met holds his portfolio "Betty Boop's Country" (unfortunately with no images).



Umetaro Azechi, Mountaineer, 1956
Umetaro Azechi, Mountaineer, 1956

I featured this artist once before, in the post A European Hillbilly and Bats Blaming Each Other. Since that time I picked up a huge Japanese book collecting his work -- a prized possession. I wonder if these are from a series -- "Mountaineer," "Grieving Mountaineer," "Mountaineer in Love," "Grieving Mountaineer in Love."


Umetaro Azechi, Grieving Mountaineer, 1957
Umetaro Azechi, Grieving Mountaineer, 1957



Kiyoshi Saito (1907-1997), Three Roosters, ca. 1980
Kiyoshi Saito (1907-1997), Three Roosters, ca. 1980
a ton more at Christies



Sadao Watanabe, Escape, 1973
Sadao Watanabe, Escape, 1973
He's pretty famous. Some more on my flickr: 1, 2, 3, 4



Junichiro Sekino, 1981, Masked Fire
Junichiro Sekino, 1981, Masked Fire
more at Christies



Kihachiro Shimozawa 1901-1984 - Autumn Colors around a Lake
Kihachiro Shimozawa (1901-1984) - Autumn Colors Around a Lake
Also featured in the post Mystery Zone.



Sumio Kawakami (1895-1972), dust jacket, undated
Sumio Kawakami (1895-1972), dust jacket, undated



Joichi Hoshi 1913-1979 - Snowball (F)
Joichi Hoshi 1913-1979 - Snowball (F)
Hoshi bio



Akira Kurosaki born 1937 - Mysterious Night
Akira Kurosaki born 1937 - Mysterious Night



Mika Katatani, Strange Parameters B, 1968
Mika Katatani, Strange Parameters B, 1968
Another from this series. It would be nice to see all of them.


Naoko Matsubara, Flute, 1974, Woodblock Print
Naoko Matsubara, Flute, 1974, Woodblock Print
You might not see it at first, but those are fingers playing a flute.
Many more here



Ai-O born 1931 - Fire Bird
Ai-O born 1931 - Fire Bird


This is an "all Japan" edition of one of my image dives. Most of them are 20th century prints, found around the internet. Some are scans from my book collection, including a few from Modern Japanese Prints, a handy collection of 1000 woodblock prints.

8 comments:

  1. Very cool! I love how each piece is deliciously unique and different from the others.

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  2. What a gorgeous group of images, really loving the ones by Fujita.

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  3. I have an original print of Akira Kurosaki's Mysterious Night, bought on a trip to Kyoto in 1977. The picture is framed as a diamond shape as evidenced by the signature and title running down the left and bottom margins.

    Thanks, as usual, for a wonderful collection.

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  4. your blog is super awesome, i have learned really a lot looking at it since i discovered it a couple years ago. it never stop to amaze me! i allways tell friends about it, it is an incredible source of knoweledge and inspiration! keep up the good work, thanks a lot!

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  5. nice set. oddly enough, i was just browsing through "modern japanese prints: the twentieth century" (2009, carnegie museum of art) yesterday and recognize many of the artists shown here from this wonderful book.

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  6. Thanks for the nice comments.

    cp, indeed 5 of these I scanned from "Modern Japanese Prints" and I meant to recommend it in the post (will do so now). Unfortunately due to the thumbnail size of most of the images, I wasn't able to make good scans. Hundreds of candidates in that book.

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  7. beautiful blog posts.

    enjoyed.

    P.

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  8. Wow. My grandma has a bunch of Sadao Watanabe prints. I regognized him immeadiately because I've been looking at them all my life but didn't know anything about him until this post. I guess she's got a lot of art on her walls I ought to ask her about.

    ReplyDelete