#ZINC USE IN MOKU HANGA SERIES#

In his forward to the first major publication of Akira's work, Akira Kurosaki Woodblock Prints, 1965-1983, Hideo Tomiyama, Deputy Director of The Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, credits Akira's 1970 series Red Darkness with launching his international career. 15-19 and an interview with the artist appearing in The Complete Works of Akira Kurosaki: Catalogue Raisonne: Woodcuts & Paper Works 1965-2006 黒崎彰の全仕事. Note: compiled primarily from Hideo Tomiyama's forward to Akira Kurosaki Woodblock Prints 1965-1983, Shirota Gallery, 1984, p. The Complete Works of Akira Kurosaki: Catalogue Raisonne: Woodcuts & Paper Works 1965-2006 黒崎彰の全仕事. Akira Kurosaki Woodblock Prints, 1965-1983, Hideo Tomiyama and Akira Kurosaki, Shirota Gallery November, 1984, p. Though traditional in technique, he set his goal 'to re-animate their style in modern form through strong color contrasts and radical compositions.' In the artist's words, 'I combine shapes and aspects to create a world reminiscent to that found in ukiyo-e prints' and his favorite shapes originated from his own imagination. During his formal studies Akira felt constrained by his teachers and the art education he was receiving and upon graduation sought out a broader understanding of art, one closer to his passions - 'the endless attraction he felt to the works of Gauguin, Munch and James Ensor.' Domestically, he found himself particularly drawn to the nihonga (Japanese-style) painter Kagaku Murakami 村上華岳 (1888-1939) famous for his Buddhist works and Ryūsei Kishida 岸田劉生 (1891-1929), a Western-style oil painter best known for his portraiture.īeginning in his college days, Akira developed a love and respect for traditional woodblock prints in the forms of ukiyo-e, nishiki-e (multi-colored prints) and ez ō shi (woodblock printed illustrated books), later writing that he was 'struck by their irresistible attraction' and exulted 'in the tension of cooperative creation.' Īkira would then set a course to create woodblock prints, visiting traditional carvers and printers to learn the craft and, in 1965, he would create his first woodblock prints, focusing on religious themes, having recently converted to Catholicism after a bout with tuberculosis and befriending 'a French priest living in Kobe who loved art.' Despite his father's advice, in 1956 Kurosaki entered the Kyoto Institute of Technology where he studied in the Department of Design, receiving his B.A. However, his father did not encourage him to be a painter as he felt it would not provide an adequate living. Due to air raids, he was relocated to Ishiyama in Ōmi Province (current day Shiga Prefecture) and he would maintain a deep affection for this area ( see Eight Views of Ōmi below.) After the war, while still a junior high school student, his father arranged for him to study drawing and painting with Itō Tsugurō 伊藤継郎 (1907-1994), a Western-style artist.

His father working for the Manchuria Railway Co., Ltd., Akira was born in Dalian, Japanese-occupied Manchuria in 1937, but returned to Japan with his mother in 1938 to live with relatives in the port town of Kobe. Continuum, Pyramid Atlantic, Innovative Prints From 1992-2007, Katherine L. His work is in the collections of the British Museum, Museum of Modern Art New York, and Tokyo’s National Museum of Modern Art, among many others. In 2008 he received the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class by the emperor. Beginning in the late 1970s Akira worked as visiting professor and artist-in-residence at various universities in the United States, Europe and Asia. He taught throughout his career, culminating in being made professor emeritus at Kyoto Seika University. He became an authority on both Japanese and Korean paper, conducted extensive research on prints and authored a variety of articles and books on printmaking. ' His work, mostly abstract or semi-representational, was shown in major domestic and international exhibitions, winning numerous awards including the 1st Florence International Print Biennale Gold Award and the World Print Award for Contemporary Masters and World Print Awards (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). He produced his first woodblock prints in 1965 and would go on to also work in silkscreen, collagraph and mixed media, creating works which express ' contemporary ideas while respecting traditional Japanese materials and methods. Kurosaki Akira 黒崎彰 (January 10, 1937-May 14, 2019)Ī major figure in modern mokuhanga (woodblock prints using water-based inks), Kurosaki developed an interest in ukiyo-e prints and techniques while in college, taking pleasure in late-period Edo and Meiji period works, struck by their intense colors.

Zinc use in moku hanga