About the work

The following information was graciously provided the Tanaka Estate representatives at the official Tanakaryohei website:

The delightful etching you have has the title 小春日和 #1(pronounced Koharubiyori), which is Indian summer day #1 in English. It is Nr 471 in the incomplete earlier raisonné. Although it is listed in the section of color etchings, it is in fact a monochrome work printed in sepia. The effect of the aquatinted walls en shoji doors of the farmhouse give the impression of having an additional color used. It is however, printed from one plate and the etched lines become darker to the eye than the more 'transparent' aquatinted parts.

Housed in the original frame under glass; “Kato, Tokyo” label on reverse. Very good condition, not examined out of the frame.

About the artist…

Ryohei Tanaka (1933-2019) was a Japanese printmaker who is world renowned for his intricate etchings of rural Japan. He had a strong affinity with the variety of Japanese rural architecture that he was saddened to see disappearing in his lifetime.

Largely self-taught, he usually limited himself to one color ink only (black). His prints are highly regarded for evoking a deep sense of peace and poetry. The framing of his works often evokes a sense of looking through a photographer’s lens, but he never worked from photographs. Rather, he carefully composed his images from numerous quick and striking pencil sketches done on the spot.

After printing each edition he destroyed the copperplate to ensure that his editions were truly limited. He was the single master during the entire creative process. He designed the images, etched the plates and printed each single etching himself, in contrast to the traditional methods of Japanese print making.

Ryohei Tanaka’s prints are widely collected and can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; the Brooklyn Museum; the Museum of Fine Arts , San Francisco; the Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio; the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York; the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art ; the Indianapolis Museum of Art; the Singapore National Museum; the British Museum and many others.

Biography sourced from Ronin Gallery and Tanaka Ryohei - Official Website

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