
Biography
Kusaka Kenji is a Japanese woodblock printmaker born in Tsuyama, Okayama Prefecture, who trained under Nagare Koji and mastered traditional woodblock techniques. In the 1960s he gained international recognition through print biennials in Tokyo, Ljubljana, Sao Paulo, and Florence, winning several awards. His prints present abstract and semi-abstract forms with vivid colors, strong tonal contrasts, and recurring motifs of egg shapes and cloud-like forms, and are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the British Museum.
Key Facts
- Active Period
- 1936
- Nationality
- 🇯🇵Japan
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Works Indexed
- 50
Frequently Asked Questions
Kusaka Kenji is a Japanese woodblock printmaker born in Tsuyama, Okayama Prefecture, who trained under Nagare Koji and mastered traditional woodblock techniques. In the 1960s he gained international recognition through print biennials in Tokyo, Ljubljana, Sao Paulo, and Florence, winning several awards. His prints present abstract and semi-abstract forms with vivid colors, strong tonal contrasts, and recurring motifs of egg shapes and cloud-like forms, and are held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the British Museum.
Kusaka Kenji was active born in 1936. They were associated with the Contemporary Mokuhanga movement.
Kusaka Kenji's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.
Kusaka Kenji's prints frequently feature birds & flowers, landscapes, abstract, trees, animals, castles.
Original prints by Kusaka Kenji can be found in collections including Japanese Art Open Database, wbp, British Museum, Watanabe Print.
Woodblock Prints by Kusaka Kenji (50)

Birds and sun
Woodblock print

Flower 302
Woodblock print

Flower 502
Woodblock print
Nijo Castle
Woodblock print
Nijo Castle
Woodblock print

CHORUI (birds) 77 102
Woodblock print
Sakuhin 1 (Work No. 1)
Woodblock print
Nijo Castle
Woodblock print

HANA (flowers)
Woodblock print
Seta Bridge
Woodblock print

Flower 14
Woodblock print

Shijo Bridge in Kyoto from the Rivers Series
Woodblock print

Boats on Tehe Lake
Woodblock print

Evening Twilight at Haneda Airport (One Hundred Views of Tokyo, Message to the 21st Century 東京百景 21世紀へのメッセジ)
1989-99
Color woodblock print

Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto
Woodblock print

Morning
Woodblock print

Mt Fuji Seen from Numazu
Woodblock print

Sanjo Bridge — 三条大橋
Woodblock print

Seashore #3
Woodblock print

Senhyo - 3
Woodblock print

Seto Naikai- Seto Inland Sea
Woodblock print

Swans
Woodblock print

Unknown Landscape
Woodblock print

Untitled (kusaka-kenji)
Woodblock print