'The Rain, Abstract in Ruby and Jade' After Hiroyuki Tajima, 1973, Tokyo, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Benezit

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Signed lower right outside of block, 'Hiroyuki Tajima' (Japanese, **) and dated 1973 with limitation and number, '50-4', lower center … Read more Signed lower right outside of block, 'Hiroyuki Tajima' (Japanese, **) and dated 1973 with limitation and number, '50-4', lower center and titled lower left, 'The Rain'.
Paper dimensions: 19.75 x 12.5 inches

An elegant and surreal abstract comprising overlapping forms in deep ruby, coral and jade.

Japanese engraver and printmaker Hiroyuki Tajima was born in Tokyo in 1911 and graduated from Nihon University at Tokyo in 1932 and the Tokyo School of Arts in 1934 with a specialization in western style painting. He also studied fabric dyeing under Hirokawa Matsugoro (nd woodblock printing with the sosaku-hanga artist Nagase Yoshiro (a founder of the Japan Print Association (Hanga Kyokai). In 1946, inspired by and attracted to the artistic ideals of Dada and Surrealism, Tajima joined Bijutsu Bunka Kyokai, a group dedicated to exploring and reviving the abstract and surrealist painting ideals that had been suppressed during WWII.

Tajima exhibited widely and with success, including with Tokyo's Modern Art Association (1962 Prix du Nouveau Venu), the Japanese Engraving Association, the Contemporary Japanese Art Exhibition in Tokyo (1962), the Northwest International Print Exhibition (nd the International Biennale of Prints at Tokyo (1964). His work can be found in the permanent collections of museums including the Portland Art Museum (Oregon), the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (British Columbia), the Art Gallery of New South Wales (Australia), the Carnegie Museum of Art, the National Museum of Art, Osaka (NMAO) and the British Museum.

In describing Tajima's work Frances Blakemore comments: "Every Tajima work seems to glow from behind, as though it incorporated a fluorescent light shielded by a mysteriously textured fabric. ... Tajima's technique consists of brushing intensely colored dyes over a dark-colored medium, imparting luminosity to the white areas while enriching the basic colors of the print. The textured areas fade off into dark planes, seeming to float on a cool liquid. Thus the fascinating, bubbly shapes are set off by simple, relaxing ground forms. In this end, this rare combination of intricacy and confident simplicity makes Tajima's work both exciting and reassuring" (p. 192).

** While several sources cite 1984 as the year of the artist's death, several union catalogues of Japanese national museums cite 1997 as year of death
With thanks to the Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints

Reference:
E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 13, p. 435; Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: elen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p. 141; Modern Japanese Prints: awrence Smith, British Museum Press, 1994, p. 35; Who's Who in Modern Japanese Prints, Frances Blakemore, Weatherhill, 1975, p. 192; 44 Modern Japanese Print Artists, Gaston Petit, Kodansha International Ltd., 1973, p. 135; Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints; et al. See less