Blue Sky of Spring (Seitensho hanga saku)
Seitensho hanga saku
About This Series
Seitensho hanga saku, here rendered Blue Sky of Spring, is one of the lyrical print suites that Shiko Munakata produced under his own poetic titles, gathering a set of related ita-e compositions under a phrase evoking the clear sky of an early spring day in northern Japan. Munakata, who throughout his career insisted that hanga was the natural medium of an Aomori boy whose first ambition had been to paint like van Gogh, returned repeatedly to the spring imagery of his home region: budding plum, returning birds, agricultural ritual, and the brilliant cold light of the post-snow weeks that the title seitensho specifically names. The suite is executed in carved cherry block and printed in sumi on washi, with several impressions completed by uragashin verso-coloring in which mineral pigments applied to the back of the sheet diffuse forward through the translucent paper to register as soft, atmospheric tints behind the dense calligraphic line. Stylistically the cycle belongs to the artist's mature postwar manner, after his evacuation to Toyama in 1945 and the consolidation of the ita-e vocabulary that distinguished his subsequent international career, and it shares with his other titled suites the format of multiple sheets read as a single pictorial poem. Although less famous internationally than the monumental Buddhist cycles that earned Munakata the 1955 Sao Paulo Print Prize, the 1956 Venice Grand Prize, and the 1970 Order of Culture, suites such as Seitensho hanga saku are central to the artist's understanding of hanga as a calligraphic and poetic art, and impressions are documented in the Munakata Shiko Memorial Hall in Aomori and in major postwar Japanese print holdings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Seitensho hanga saku, here rendered Blue Sky of Spring, is one of the lyrical print suites that Shiko Munakata produced under his own poetic titles, gathering a set of related ita-e compositions under a phrase evoking the clear sky of an early spring day in northern Japan. Munakata, who throughout his career insisted that hanga was the natural medium of an Aomori boy whose first ambition had been to paint like van Gogh, returned repeatedly to the spring imagery of his home region: budding plum, returning birds, agricultural ritual, and the brilliant cold light of the post-snow weeks that the title seitensho specifically names. The suite is executed in carved cherry block and printed in sumi on washi, with several impressions completed by uragashin verso-coloring in which mineral pigments applied to the back of the sheet diffuse forward through the translucent paper to register as soft, atmospheric tints behind the dense calligraphic line. Stylistically the cycle belongs to the artist's mature postwar manner, after his evacuation to Toyama in 1945 and the consolidation of the ita-e vocabulary that distinguished his subsequent international career, and it shares with his other titled suites the format of multiple sheets read as a single pictorial poem. Although less famous internationally than the monumental Buddhist cycles that earned Munakata the 1955 Sao Paulo Print Prize, the 1956 Venice Grand Prize, and the 1970 Order of Culture, suites such as Seitensho hanga saku are central to the artist's understanding of hanga as a calligraphic and poetic art, and impressions are documented in the Munakata Shiko Memorial Hall in Aomori and in major postwar Japanese print holdings.
The Blue Sky of Spring (Seitensho hanga saku) series contains 1 prints, created by Shiko Munakata.
The Blue Sky of Spring (Seitensho hanga saku) series was created by Shiko Munakata (棟方志功).
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