JUNICHIRO SEKINO (JAPAN 1914 - 1988) FRAMED COLOR WOODBLOCK STONE LANTERN 176/200
Item History & Price
JUNICHIRO SEKINO (JAPAN, 1914-1988) PENCIL SIGNED MODERNIST FRAMED COLOR WOODBLOCK TITLED 'STONE LANTERN, ' EDITION #176/200 (Circa 1950-1956)Post WWII Japanese Modernist woodblock prints
DIMENSIONS:Frame: 27" Height x 10 ¼" Width Image: 22 ½" Height x 6 ¾" Width GALLERY TAGS & AFFIXED LABELS:With original gallery label from the 'Ferdinand Roten Galleries, Baltimore, Maryland with artist info, attached at the original, unbrok...en brown paper dust cover.
DESCRIPTION:Offered for your careful review and consideration is this absolutely beautiful, estate-fresh and subsequently fresh-to-the-marketplace Modernist Japanese vertical, large formatted color woodblock print by Japanese Modernist printmaker Junichiro Sekino (1914-1988.) Junichiro Sekino was best known for his portraits of Japanese kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers and geishas. These subjects, along with his picturesque views of mountains and forest streams, were completed in a style that merged both Western and Japanese aesthetics. His works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others. What's remarkable about this particular woodblock print is the pictorial space the artist creates with the open, mid-field in which a stone tiled plaza is depicted in between the architectural structures in the foreground and the stone lantern and walled building in the background, most likely a tile roofed temple or large ceremonial building. The structure in the front is almost completely cast in shadow, with only a grey highlight on the top of the form, giving the piece a certain moodiness and quiet, somber atmosphere. This is a masterful work by a very well listed and prominent Japanese Modernist printmaker, who like his contemporaries working in large format color woodblocks at the time, created and forged their own particular visual language that repositioned post WWII Japan, not only as an economic and military imperial power but rather as a forward looking and forward thinking Modernist society, where the arts not only flourished but seemed to explode with Modernist urgency and the promise of a brighter, more peaceful Japan and world. Japan had not only inflicted the horrors of war and military occupation upon the people of Korea, the Philippines and China but also had the horrors of nuclear war visited upon them not once but twice, being the only people in the entire world attacked with the menacing power of nuclear bombs. This Modernist color woodblock print is literally the opposite of war. It's a visual Haiku poem, where the silence is visualized and the spaces in between static objects appear to be timeless and not to have been even slightly moved for hundreds of years. Sheer, breathtaking beauty from the hand of a Japanese Modernist printmaking master, Junichiro Sekino. It's no wonder why such important fine art enclaves such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY, the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts hold his works in their permanent fine art collections. A terrific work, that due to its vertical formatting, could be placed just about anywhere in a home or office, even in narrow, difficult spaces to decorate. Bring a little Japanese Modernism into your wintry world with this simply gorgeous vintage woodblock print by Junichiro Sekino.
CONDITION:Very Good to Excellent overall vintage condition.
DIMENSIONS:Frame: 27" Height x 10 ¼" Width Image: 22 ½" Height x 6 ¾" Width GALLERY TAGS & AFFIXED LABELS:With original gallery label from the 'Ferdinand Roten Galleries, Baltimore, Maryland with artist info, attached at the original, unbrok...en brown paper dust cover.
DESCRIPTION:Offered for your careful review and consideration is this absolutely beautiful, estate-fresh and subsequently fresh-to-the-marketplace Modernist Japanese vertical, large formatted color woodblock print by Japanese Modernist printmaker Junichiro Sekino (1914-1988.) Junichiro Sekino was best known for his portraits of Japanese kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers and geishas. These subjects, along with his picturesque views of mountains and forest streams, were completed in a style that merged both Western and Japanese aesthetics. His works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others. What's remarkable about this particular woodblock print is the pictorial space the artist creates with the open, mid-field in which a stone tiled plaza is depicted in between the architectural structures in the foreground and the stone lantern and walled building in the background, most likely a tile roofed temple or large ceremonial building. The structure in the front is almost completely cast in shadow, with only a grey highlight on the top of the form, giving the piece a certain moodiness and quiet, somber atmosphere. This is a masterful work by a very well listed and prominent Japanese Modernist printmaker, who like his contemporaries working in large format color woodblocks at the time, created and forged their own particular visual language that repositioned post WWII Japan, not only as an economic and military imperial power but rather as a forward looking and forward thinking Modernist society, where the arts not only flourished but seemed to explode with Modernist urgency and the promise of a brighter, more peaceful Japan and world. Japan had not only inflicted the horrors of war and military occupation upon the people of Korea, the Philippines and China but also had the horrors of nuclear war visited upon them not once but twice, being the only people in the entire world attacked with the menacing power of nuclear bombs. This Modernist color woodblock print is literally the opposite of war. It's a visual Haiku poem, where the silence is visualized and the spaces in between static objects appear to be timeless and not to have been even slightly moved for hundreds of years. Sheer, breathtaking beauty from the hand of a Japanese Modernist printmaking master, Junichiro Sekino. It's no wonder why such important fine art enclaves such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY, the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts hold his works in their permanent fine art collections. A terrific work, that due to its vertical formatting, could be placed just about anywhere in a home or office, even in narrow, difficult spaces to decorate. Bring a little Japanese Modernism into your wintry world with this simply gorgeous vintage woodblock print by Junichiro Sekino.
CONDITION:Very Good to Excellent overall vintage condition.
