Coal Vendor (Sumiya) from the series "Continuing Japanese Vocations in Pictures"

Sanzo Wada

Sanzo Wada’s formative background in classical Western-style art shows through in this watercolor-like woodcut, in which he depicts the daily routine of a binchotan, or charcoal, seller.

Wada’s artistic maturity of the 1920s occurred in tandem with Japan’s growing nationalistic stance, which discouraged European-style painting in favor of traditional Japanese styles depicting traditional Japanese culture and military victories. Wada felt keenly loyal to his country, yet his interest in art sprang directly from an early desire to learn Old Master oil painting techniques. His early years were spent traveling to Europe to study art alongside an international cast of students, and he even developed his own color theory, which is still utilized today.

The ensuing struggle between his place as a loyal Japanese citizen and his passion for art, in all of its forms, remained with him throughout his career; it also remained in the critical public eye, which both celebrated and vilified his work for the same reasons. Thus Wada occupies a finely balanced space in art history that still requires close inspection.