About This Print
Source: The Modern Japanese Print - An Appreciation, James Michener, Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1968, p. 46-47.
This print was one of ten chosen by committee to be included in James Michener's seminal 1962 work and portfolio of prints The Modern Japanese Print: An Appreciation. The comments of the artist on this work, along with Michener's comments, follow.
The Artist's Comments
This is one of two prints by the same title; I personally prefer the No. 1. Since the deadline for the contest was the 1st day of December, I picked the theme of winter for my compositions. It was partly with a feeling of resistance against the cold and cruel impression of winter that I worked on these prints. What I wanted to express, however, was that even though winter is cold and severe, it is at the same time secretly nursing the buds of hope.
- Iwami Reika
|
Comments of James Michener
This print is special in many ways. First of all, it was done my
Miss Iwami Reika, the first woman in the history of Japanese prints, so
far as I know, to attain full stature. It is true that Hokusai's
daughter, an extraordinary girl known by the name of Chin-chin because
her protruding jaw reminded one of the Pekinese dog (called chin
in Japanese), issued a few works that gained wide circulation in the
middle years of the nineteenth century; but she was never really much
more than a curiosity, and her work was in no way commendable. It is
also true that today there are other fine women print artists who are
gaining increasing recognition - Shima Tamami and Yoshida Chizuko, to
name only two - and that there are now enough of them to have an
informal association and to hold periodic exhibits of considerable
worth. But Miss Iwami represents the vanguard, and for two women to win
prizes in a competition such as the present one signalizes a triumph of
no small proportion. It has never been easy for women to attain
prominence in Japanese art, and for two such young ones to have done so
is indeed an accomplishment.
More important,
artistically, however, is the second fact: this print exhibits a mastery
of texture and color that is enviable. The utilization of wood grain
in the three standing pillars is very satisfying and gives the print a
surcharge of emotion. The printing of this passage and also of the
background grays is first rate, skillful overprinting being used to
bring out unanticipated textures. In others of her prints, Miss Iwami
uses a striking palette of burnt orange, crisp yellow, and flashing
red. Here she is more subdued, but her vivid sense of color values
nevertheless expresses itself in the telling slash of red across the
moon.
The third reason why this print has a special
significance in this series is that it exemplifies rather handsomely the
best effects that are being obtained by the nonrepresentational artists
in simplifying subject matter to the ultimate. What more need by said
about winter in Japan, where the wonderful texture of the unpainted
wooden houses stands so starkly against the cold sky? The resulting
patterns are most satisfying, emotionally, and many people who have had
an opportunity to live closely with others of Miss Iwami's prints can
testify to the subtle gratifications one discovers in having them
around. They are somehow right; both the eye and the mind find them
recurrently pleasing, and thus they satisfy one of the great purposes of
art: they remind us of how simple the most effective measures usually
are. Miss Iwami utilizes simple means, simple design, simple, bold
coloring, and out of this produces a complex, sophisticated whole that
has the capacity to please without cloying.
The final
characteristic of this print that makes it special for me is that it was
done by an artist whom I had the pleasure of helping discover. All the
men represented in this book were well-established performers before I
came on the Tokyo scene. Hiratsuka was producing fine prints before I
was born, and Maekawa too. Azechi was well into his third period - the
portraits of mountaineers against stylized peaks - before I met him; and
each of the other artists was well known. But Iwami Reika was not. |
Technical Details
Artist’s title: Fuyu no Kosei 2 (Winter Composition No. 2). Four plywood blocks of basswood and lavan. Printed on torinoko paper in three Japanese-style pigments plus sumi ink, with mica and gum arabic mixed into the back and red. Two impressions for the gray background and one impression each for the black, the thick red, and the thin red.
Print Details
IHL Catalog |
#895 |
Title |
Winter Composition No. 2 冬の構成2 Fuyu no Kosei 2
|
Artist
|
Iwami Reika (1927-2020)
|
Signature
|
Reika Iwami (pencil signature)
|
Seal |
not sealed
|
Date |
1959
|
Edition |
49/510 (475 of the edition were included in the original 1962 limited edition of The Modern Japanese Print – An Appreciation by James Michener)
|
Publisher |
self-published |
Impression |
excellent |
Colors |
excellent |
Condition |
excellent
|
Genre |
sosaku-hanga (creative print)
|
Miscellaneous |
|
Format |
|
H x W Paper |
17 1/4 x 12 1/8 in. (43.8 x 30.8 cm)
|
H x W Image |
15 3/4 x 10 3/4 in. ( 40 x 27.3 cm)
|
Collections This Print |
Portland Art Museum 2004.39h (bound in
the book The Modern Japanese Print by James Michener); Milwaukee Art Museum [bound in The
Modern Japanese Print by James Michener (M2000.37)]; The British Museum
1981,0205,0.1.8 (61/510);
The
Nickle Arts Museum, University of Calgary 1968.064.008 (354/510); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 63.461 |
Reference Literature |
The Modern Japanese Print - An Appreciation, James Michener, Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1968, p. 46-47; The Legacy of Japanese Printmaking, Barry Till, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1986, p. 94. |
|