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Sumio Kawakami (1895-1972)
cityscape
a woodblock print of an urban landscape with smoke stacks, signed in pencilled Roman script, S. Kawakami, ca. 1930's |
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15.8 by 21 cm
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Kawakami was an English teacher and self-taught sosaku hanga artist. In 1926 Munakata was inspired to study woodblock printmaking when he saw a work by Kawakami, 'Early Summer Breeze'- a sumizuri-e of a girl (wearing Western clothing) in a field accompanied by a poem of the same subject.
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Kawakami was a member of the Kokuga Sosaku Kyokai (National Painting Creation Association), which became the Kokugakai, of which Munakata and Sekino were members; a member of Nihon Sosaku-Hanga Kyokai (Japan Creative Print Association), and a founding member of Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Japan Print Association), of which Munakata was also a member.
This undated print may be an early composition; most of his later works were produced using a single black-outline block with hand-coloring in a similar manner as Munakata, although Kawakami hand-applied pigment to the front of the paper.
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