Memories of the East, Hagiwara Hideo

Artwork Overview

Hagiwara Hideo, Memories of the East
Hagiwara Hideo, Memories of the East
Memories of the East
1983, Showa period (1926–1989)
1913–2007
Memories of the East, 1983, Showa period (1926–1989)
Where object was made: Japan
Material/technique: color woodcut
Dimensions:
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 279 x 429 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 11 0.9843 x 16 7/8 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 25 in
Credit line: Museum purchase: Lucy Shaw Schultz Fund
Accession number: 1990.0065
Not on display
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Exhibition Label: "Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art," Mar-2008, Kris Ercums Abstract printmaking, which was largely banned by the military government during World War II, experienced a rebirth in the 1950s and 60s. This revival signaled a profound shift away from the sentimental realism of shin hanga (new prints)—a continuation of the traditional collaboration between publisher and printmaker—to sosaku hanga (creative print), which emphasized the artist as sole creator of expressionistic works. Patronage of creative prints by American military, which helped boost the post-war art economy, was also perceived as an outgrowth of developmental democracy in Japan. Archive Label date unknown: Hagiwara began making prints in a figurative style in the late 1940s, but by the end of the next decade, his work had become abstract. This essentially abstract image depends on a layering of gray pigments to suggest the tactile qualities of wood, perhaps the weathered planks of a temple veranda. The ensō (Zen circle) is an enigmatic symbol that inspires a multitude of Buddhist associations.