Tanaka, Ryohei (1933 - 2019 )
Ryohei Tanaka is world renowned for his intricate black and white etchings of rural Japan. Born in Takatsuki City outside of Osaka, Ryohei began his career studying etching under Professor Yoshio Furuno in 1963. One year later, he became a member of the Kyoto Etchers Group. In 1966, he began exhibiting with the Japan Print Association and became a full member in 1973. Ryohei won numerous awards in Japan, Europe and the United States. He is best known for his black and white etchings, but he also produced some aquatints and mezzotints. Ryohei Tanaka did not imagine his compositions, but drew from reality, basing his work on sketches of the Japanese countryside. His prints are widely collected and can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.
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.
