Onda, Akio (1924 - 2007 )
Akio Onda was born in Tokyo and studied Western-style painting at Musashino College of Fine Arts. His early career focused on oil paintings with an exhibition at the Independent Fine Art Association in the early 1950s. In 1963, he became an assistant to Shiko Munakata at his alma mater, with whom he had previously studied woodblock printing. Onda started exhibiting his own woodblock prints in 1965. His work is printed in sumi ink on washi paper, sometimes with the backside of the paper hand-painted so that the color shows through the front. Munakata had a great influence on Onda's work. Popular subjects include classic haiku poetry, childhood and Buddhist philosophy.
Sosaku Hanga | Post-WWII Japanese Prints
The Sosaku Hanga or “creative print” movement emerged in the changing Japan of the early 20th century. The movement arose from a central tenant: the artist must participate in every aspect of production. As artists shed the traditional delegation of ukiyo-e production and explored each role themselves, the act of printmaking adopted a more spontaneous, expressive attitude. Artists explored with the knife, chisel, woodblock, and ink to push to the boundaries of their medium. Originally excluded from Japan’s formal art world, Sosaku Hanga began on the pages of magazines. It was not until 1919 that the first Sosaku Hanga exhibition opened in Tokyo. Ranging from figural to abstract, the movement flourished after WWII, and found a new, eager audience among American GIs. In this collection, Ronin Gallery presents masters of Sosaku Hanga such as Onchi, Ono, Munakata, Saito, Sekino, and Mori, as well as other post-war Japanese printmakers.
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