Celebrating Asian Art

Chiura Obata (1885-1975) Prints and Paintings

Chiura Obata (1885-1975) was an influential American artist who was born and educated in Japan. Obata taught at Berkeley from 1932 to 1954, a period broken only by his unjust internment during WWII. In 1930 Obata and the Japanese publisher Takamizawa published “World Landscape Series: America,” the groundbreaking effort which represents the apogee of woodblock printing in the 20th century. Each of the 35 prints in the series required between 120 and 205 separate hand printings, and some required 15 to 20 blocks just to replicate a single brushstroke. A five-city retrospective of Obata’s work concluded in 2020 at the Smithsonian American Museum of Art.

Kawase Hasui: Master of Snow

Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) is one of the 20th century's most celebrated Japanese landscape shin hanga artists. His genius was in capturing a specific place during a specific season and time of day, creating surprisingly personal scenes that also have universal appeal. The refined techniques of the printers and carvers of the late Taisho and early Showa periods also are the finest of the century. We celebrate the west coast storms we've been enjoying with a select group of Hasui snow prints, which are some of his most appreciated and sought-after works. Stay tuned: more Hasui works to come!

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