Japanese Woodblock Print, 1942

SIZE IN INCHES: inches

AZECHI UMETARO (1902?1999) was a pioneering Japanese printmaker of the S_saku-hanga (creative print) movement, celebrated for transforming his lifelong passion for mountaineering into a highly distinct, modern graphic style. After moving from Ehime Prefecture to Tokyo in 1920, he taught himself printmaking and initially gained recognition for striking, stylized landscapes of active volcanoes and jagged peaks before achieving international acclaim for his whimsical postwar portraits of rugged yama-otoko (mountain men). His expressive, geometric blocks of bold color and deeply human subject matter caught the attention of global art institutions, and today his masterpieces are preserved in major public collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the British Museum in London, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts in Tokyo.

Fine as shown