(Two Birds Among Ferns) by Keiko Minami

(Two Birds Among Ferns) by Keiko Minami

(Two Birds Among Ferns)

Keiko Minami

Title

(Two Birds Among Ferns)

 
Artist

Keiko Minami

  1911 - 2004 (biography)
Year
1975  
Technique
color aquatint & etching 
Image Size
11 3/4 x 12 1/8" platemark 
Signature
pencil, lower right 
Edition Size
2 of 50  
Annotations
pencil editioned, lower left 
Reference
 
Paper
ivory Chiffon de Mandeure wove 
State
published 
Publisher
artist 
Inventory ID
DASL201 
Price
SOLD
Description

Keiko Minami is known for her fairytale-like motifs revolved mainly around the themes of young girls, nature, and castles. This lyrical and charming etching combines precision and fantasy to illustrate her imagined world. She juxtaposed intricate patterns of ferns, feathers, and branches against a pale gray background and she avoided the use of perspective or shadow that would suggest dimension.

Keiko Minami, painter, printmaker and poet, was born in the Imizu District, Toyama Prefecture in Japan on February 12, 1911. Orphaned at a young age she expressed and pursued an early interest in the arts. She painted and wrote poetry in high school, and studied the art of children's stories under the Japanese novelist and poet Sakae Tsuboi. Minami attended the School of Fine Arts Tokyo (now the Tokyo University of the Arts) from 1927 until 1929.

After World War II, Minami moved to Tokyo to create children’s books, and it was there that she met her future husband, the renowned mezzotint artist Y?z? Hamaguchi. Minami and Hamaguchi moved to Paris in late 1953 where Minami began studying at the atelier of Johnny Friedlaender, a pioneer in aquatint etching. Her artistic style was also influenced by Paul Klee and Japanese artists of the Mingei folk craft movement.

In 1959, Keiko Minami was named the official artist of the United Nations for her etching Tree of Peace. The Museum of Modern Art and UNICEF reproduced many of her works as greeting cards beginning in the late 1950s. In 1961, Minami entered into a contract with the German dealer Heinz Berggruen and three of her prints were published by Associated American Artists, New York City, in the 1960s. Her prints appeared regularly at international print exhibitions.

In 1996, after a forty year absence Minami returned to Japan, where she died on December 1, 2004, at age 93.