Tokuriki Tomikichiro - Born in Kyoto, Tokuriki Tomikichiro spent his entire career in the city. After initially studying Nihonga or Japanese style painting, Tokuriki switched to woodblock prints in 1924. Although best known for his shin-hanga landscape prints, Tokuriki's real passion was sosaku hanga or creative prints. He enthusiastically promoted sosaku hanga, and set up his own publishing company called Matsuku after WWII to produce his designs as well as those of other artists. He taught block carving and wrote extensively on the subject of woodblock prints, while also exhibiting internationally. His modern sosaku hanga prints are expressive with bold line work and shapes, while his traditional shin-hanga views more closely resemble ink and wash paintings. Tokuriki successfully bridged these two major twentieth-century styles, and was highly influential in the development of younger artists.

Taima-dera Nakanobu Garden - Lovely design from a series of three prints of Taima-dera Temple in Nara, published by the Uchida Art Company of Kyoto. These attractive designs feature soft color and fine bokashi shading, in an unusual narrow format. The scholar Fujikake Shizuya's name is associated with the series, but we are not sure in what capacity. The first time we've seen these charming subjects.

Artist - Tokuriki (1902 - 1999)

Image Size - 14 1/4" x 5 3/4" + margins as shown

Condition - This print with nice color and detail as shown. Please see photos for details.