Onchi Kōshirō, The
Sea, a triptych, 1 painted study and 2 colour
woodblock prints
Japan
Shōwa era, around AD
1937
Onchi Kōshirō (1891-1955) was one of the most
influential twentieth-century Japanese print artists, also active
as a poet, painter, illustrator, book designer, and critic. He was
the leading figure in the Sōsaku Hanga ('Creative
Print') movement. These artists carried out all stages of
print production themselves, whereas traditionally the process was
divided between publishers, artists, block-cutters and printers.
They saw the woodblock print as a form of artistic expression with
a potential equal to painting. Onchi aimed to create prints as
original works of art in themselves, and it is unusual that in this
case the central print was based on an oil painting.
The Sea is the only
triptych that he made, and only two full printed versions are
believed to have been produced. The British Museum has the
preparatory oil painting for the central panel, but not the final
print.
The smaller, square
left and right panels featuring fish and shells seen in rock pools,
on either side of the nude female bathers, mark the beginning of
the abstraction based on natural forms which characterized
Onchi's later work. He was interested in the sea from his
youth, and already in previous works linked the sea with the female
body. The contrasts between the central and flanking panels are
striking - of subject, technique and colour.
L. Smith, and V. Harris, Modern Japanese prints, 1912-1 (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)