Details

Koshiro Onchi was one of the leading printmakers in 20th-century Japan. He is credited with producing the first work of abstraction in Japan in 1915. Onchi was comfortable in both abstract and representational formats, making his prints stylistically varied. He is known for imbuing his work with an expressive quality that was thought-provoking and emotionally potent. In many cases, his most expressive work remains unrivaled today. With his charisma, Onchi tended to the flame of the Sosaku Hanga movement during the dark years leading to and during the war by encouraging artists to produce creative prints for art’s sake.

This work belongs to a series of florals Onchi produced from the late 1930s–1940s. These florals vary in the levels of realism used by the artist. In this work, the design is semi-abstract. The composition’s main emphasis is color and form, working in concert with the variety of textures expressed by the experimental printing style of the artist. The Japanese-style composition places the viewer slightly above and at a distance from the subject. The flower is primarily comprised of simplified shapes—circles, ellipses, and ovals.

The bloom reveals a shadow below whose form is more organic than the flower’s front constitution. The print advances various organic-like textures throughout the composition that provide the work with a tactile quality and a sense of depth. This piece has a highly expressive and spontaneous printing quality that provides the work a surprising emotional depth.

Connoisseur's Note

Ever the experimenter, each impression of this design differs from one another. In this impression, Onchi elected on pigment that would unevenly disperse throughout the composition, leaving uneven pigmentation areas yielding a highly expressive and organic quality. The splatter of pigment throughout the composition is a tell-tale sign this work was printed by the hand of the master. Beyond the uniqueness of the printing style, the work is signed at the top left. As is the case with all Onchi self-printed impressions, this work is quite rare and was only produced in a handful of impressions. The print is in an excellent state of preservation.