HASEGAWA Yûichi
(Japan 1945– )
- Title
- Metamorphosis
- Alternative title:
- Sei sei ruten
- Place of origin
-
Japan
- Period
- Heisei period 1989 - → Japan
- Year
- 1991
- Media category
- Materials used
- woodcut
- Edition
- 2/6
- Dimensions
-
86.0 x 106.0cm image; 100.0 x 120.0cm sheet
- Signature & date
- Signed and dated l.r., pencil "1991 Yuichi Hasegawa".
- Credit
- Gift of the artist 1993
- Accession number
- 417.1993
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
Hasegawa, born in Fukushima Prefecture where he still lives, is fascinated by the perpetual momentum and mutability of nature and the universe. He studied under Saito Kiyoshi (born 1907), a leading exponent of the 'sosaku hanga' (creative print) movement which emerged and was consolidated in the decade 1911-1920 and subsequently became dominant in the immediate post-war decades 1950-1970, largely due to American patronage during the Occupation. It was in this period that Hasegawa absorbed its ideas. Adherents of the 'sosaku hanga' movement regarded printmaking as a form of creative expression as valid as painting or sculpture, and they considered it important for the artist to be involved in the entire process of production, from the carving of the blocks to the printing. (This method contrasts with the traditional method of Japanese woodblock printing where the artist only did the drawing and then the block-cutter, the printer, and the publisher, took the drawing through the stages of realising it as a print.) The focus was on the artist's relationship to his material and tools, and his ingenuity in eliciting an image from a resistant medium. Hasegawa's vibrant, attractive prints affirm the principles of the 'sosaku hanga' movement.
The Japanese title of this print has richer connotations than the English for the Japanese words suggest the idea of perpetual motion, life's wandering, and transmigration.
Jackie Menzies, Contemporary Japanese Prints: The Urban Bonsai, 1992, pg. 29, 32.
- Bibliography (1)
-
Jackie Menzies (Australia) (Author), Contemporary Japanese Prints : The Urban Bonsai, Sydney, 1992, 29, 32, 37 (colour illus.). cat.no. 13
- Exhibition history (12)
-
The Urban Bonsai, Queensland Art Gallery, 04 Mar 1992–04 May 1992.
The Urban Bonsai, National Art Gallery, Wellington, 20 Jun 1992–09 Aug 1992.
The Urban Bonsai, Christchurch Art Gallery, 12 Sep 1992–29 Oct 1992.
The Urban Bonsai, Manawatu Art Gallery, 13 Nov 1992–10 Jan 1993.
The Urban Bonsai, The George Adams Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, 18 Mar 1993–25 Apr 1993.
The Urban Bonsai, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 08 May 1993–01 Aug 1993.
The Urban Bonsai, Lewers Bequest and Penrith Regional Art Gallery, 11 Mar 1994–24 Apr 1994.
The Urban Bonsai, The Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, 19 May 1994–19 Jun 1994.
The Urban Bonsai, Campbelltown Arts Centre, 15 Jul 1994–21 Aug 1994.
The Urban Bonsai, Moree Plains Gallery, 11 Nov 1994–24 Dec 1994.
The Urban Bonsai, Tweed River Regional Art Gallery, 01 Feb 1995–05 Mar 1995.
From this place, Cowra Art Gallery, 01 Aug 2004–12 Sep 2004.
