Japanese Mezzotint Print, 2020, first edition, pencil signed, titled, dated and numbered 32/100 in lower margin.

SIZE IN INCHES: 8.5 x 12.75 inches

COMMENTS: Mezzotint is among the most physically demanding mediums in art, one tried and quickly abandoned as "too difficult", for example, by the great printmaker M.C. Escher. A copper plate is "rocked" with a curved, notched blade until the surface is entirely pitted. At this stage, an inked plate would print a rich, uniform black. The artist then uses a scraper or burnisher to flatten the raised parts, a little for dark grays, a lot for light grays, completely for white (after inking and wiping, the plate holds no ink where it is smooth). Colors are achieved by similarly working one or more supplementary plates.

NORIKANE HIROTO (b.1949) was educated at Sokei Academy of Fine Art in Tokyo and studied under Yoshida Hodaka, the modernist oil painter and woodblock artist, and Kato Kiyomi, an established etching artist. Norikane works in mixed media techniques of etching and mezzotint. He is well known for his images of traditional rural Japanese scenes such as farmhouses. Cats are also a recurring theme. The artist uses fine lines and subdued colours, often just relying on shades of brown, or black and white. Norikane has held solo exhibitions in many cities in Japan, and in the USA, and Taiwan. He has been a frequent participant in the prestigious CWAJ Print Show in Tokyo over the past two decades. His works are in international permanent collections which include the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the Portland Museum of Art, Oregon, the Oregon City Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum, and the White House, Washington D.C.

Fine, no flaws