(Flowers in Vase - 9) by Kenji Ushiku

(Flowers in Vase - 9) by Kenji Ushiku

(Flowers in Vase - 9)

Kenji Ushiku

Title

(Flowers in Vase - 9)

 
Artist

Kenji Ushiku

  1922 - 2012 (biography)
Year
c. 1960  
Technique
color etching and aquatint 
Image Size
7 3/4 x 5 1/2" platemark 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
32 of 125  
Annotations
pencil titled in Japanese, lower left; pencil editioned 
Reference
 
Paper
heavy ivory wove 
State
published 
Publisher
 
Inventory ID
23507 
Price
SOLD
Description

Kenji Ushiku’s early career was steeped in non-objective abstraction and experimental intaglio printmaking. However, by the 1960s and with the influence of mid-century Modernism he had moved into delicate, intimate images of plant life, animals, and interiors, in a style that borrowed from both the ancient Greek and Roman visual arts as well as traditional Japanese folk art.

He was especially known for the minute detail that connected the viewer to an object’s familiarity; in this case, the painted details of the vase, the many buds drawn individually on the plate, the patterned tablecloth, and the inclusion of a bird at the center of the vase’s decor - birds and waterfowl being common themes in his work.