One Hundred Scenes of Kobe, Hide Kawanishi

Exhibition Label: "Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art," Mar-2008, Kris Ercums A native of Kobe, which in the late 1800s became one of the first ports in Japan opened to foreign trade, Kawanishi was one of the leading members of the creative print movement prior to World War II. Eschewing earlier ukiyo-e styles and subject matter-he abhorred the use of black outlines prevalent in Japanese prints for centuries-he focused on urban life in mid-twentieth-century Japan, creating a copious body of vibrantly colored prints.