Baren Digest               Sunday, 12 August 2001       Volume 16 : Number 1518


----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: FOO KWEE HORNG <khfoo@moe.edu.sg>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 21:21:53 +0800 (WST)
Subject: [Baren 15367] Munakata-Japanese Picasso? 

Thanks for replying Barbara. I would say that they were
contemporaries though Picasso was about 20 years older. They do
share much similarities; like folk art influence, mythological
themes, prodigious output, eroticism in later years (if I did not
get my facts wrong!). However, I think Picasso made only one
woodcut; either in 1906 or 1908. Not much has been written about
Munakata except for the one edited by Sori Yanagi. So far, I've
found only 2 books on Munakata and a few others (Contemporary
Japanese Prints) with a little on him. Any other sources from
anyone out there?

------------------------------

From: "April Vollmer" <april@aprilvollmer.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 12:05:11 -0400
Subject: [Baren 15368] Small World

Jan, you are amazing! Don't count it as pure luck, it has to do with your
magnetic personality, I'm sure.

My brother is head of the Geology dept at SUNY New Paltz! And I have a
friend who teaches art there. I wonder if  Kristin and Rich Rauch know Fred
Vollmer (my brother) or Amy Chen (my artist friend). Small world indeed.

GOMA ZURI, or sesame seed texture, is hard to control, but can be got in
different grain sizes if you experiment. NO PASTE, just water and pigment
mix. If you use lots of water the grain will be big, if the block is just
moist the grain will be smaller. I made a flat wooden baren specifically for
goma zuri. Smooth wood face disc and a wood handle glued on back. What you
want is LIGHT PRESSURE, so use your weakest baren. Not too much water, now!

April Vollmer
www.aprilvollmer.com


------------------------------

From: nilsa <nilsamacaya@rcn.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 12:58:13 -0400
Subject: [Baren 15369] Re: Munakata-Japanese Picasso? 

Foo Kwee Horng,

Have you tried contacting the Munakata Shiko Memorial Museum of Art? Since
they do not have anyone on staff that can skillfully translate e-mails
written in Enlish, they suggest that inquiries be written in very simple
English. The only page of their website translated in English is Shiko
Munakata's summary page:

http://www.lantecweb.com/shikokan/txt/g02.htm

The bottom of this page will take you to the museum's home page (in Japanese
except for above page). Also, you may want to check with the libraries and
universities in your area and check if they have a copy of the following 32
minute video for viewing:

Shiko Munakata: Master of the Wood Block Print

Baren members that have questions on "proper" hanga tools, materials, and
education may wish to read the following essay regarding Shiko Munakata:

http://www.artnet.com/magazine/reviews/stern/stern8-20-98.asp#4

Nilsa


------------------------------

From: GWohlken <blueman@pantek.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 23:20:06 -0400
Subject: [Baren 15370] Re: Goma-zuri

> 
> Can someone explain the goma-zuri effect and how it's done? Jerelee----

This is taken from the Baren Encyclopedia from the book Japanese
Wood-block Printing, Chapter IV by Hiroshi Yoshida.

"Goma-zuri. Goma means sesame and suggests black particles on white. It
is obtained by a soft rubbing of the baren. This is better produced
while the surface
 of the paper is yet fresh. In getting the goma effect, paste is not
absolutely necessary, though it may be needed to prevent the paper from
slipping. A baren made of a four-strand cord, or a worn-out baren, or a
paper-cord baren - the weakest kind of a baren - is the best for this
purpose. An extravagant use of pigment is required to produce a certain
goma effect, and a scanty use of it produces another effect. Use
according to the need. Do not place too much pressure on the baren. When
the surface of the paper is too smooth, it is difficult to produce goma.
In manufacturing it, paper is dried on a board, and some kinds of paper
are marked with the grain of the wood. In goma printing the marks of the
wood grain are often brought out, though unintentionally."

"Goma-zuri printed twice produces a very interesting effect. Or this
style may be used in combination with tsubushi. Another interesting
effect may be achieved by
pressing the baren with force at one end and gradually decreasing the
force toward the other end. This produces a sort of a blending in goma." 

"There may be large or small goma. These can be produced by the kind of
baren used and the amount of strength applied in printing. The coarsest
kind of goma
may be obtained by merely dropping the paper on the block. Slightly finer
effects may be obtained by lightly pressing the paper with a flat
baren.Various grades of goma may be mixed in order to produce an
interesting background, as that in my print entitled "Portrait of a Boy"
(No. 98)."

"When the paper becomes hard and dry, fine goma can be produced. This
occurs 
even when trying to produce tsubushi. Of course, an unintentional result will
hardly ever be satisfactory. The effect I have secured may be treated as
avariety of goma."

Gayle

------------------------------

From: Arafat Alnaim <ar_alnaim@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Aug 2001 21:15:27 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Baren 15371] Re: Munakata-Japanese Picasso? 

Dear FOO KWEE HORNG,
here you find some information. later i'll be sending
you more.
Regards
Arafat Al_naim

1. The Woodblock and the Artist 
The Life and Work of Shiko Munakata 
Souri Yanagi  (editor) 
Hardcover: 148 pages, 228 x 297 mm 
132 photos and prints ISBN: 4770016123 
Publisher: Kodansha International

2. The Woodblock and the Artist : The Life and Work of
Shiko Munakata
Munemichi Yanagi (Editor), October 1991 ISBN:
4770016123

3.
http://spectacle.berkeley.edu/~fiorillo/3munakata.html
Shik? Munakata was once described by the novelist
Jun'ichir? Tanizaki as "an impertinent artist who
gouges the universe." Today Munakata is recognized
internationally as a near-legendary artist of
astounding energy and a profound sensitivity.
Munakata's work was influenced by the Buddhist folk
tradition of Japan, but his vision was also distilled
through his own personal expression of Zen Buddhism
and the spirit of 'Shint?'. Mixed with elements of
'mingei' (folk craft). Munakata was moved by what he
called the "power of the board"; he even used a
different first character when calling his prints
"hanga," his version translating into something more
like "board picture" than the standard term, which is
closer to "print picture." He believed that the artist
must succumb to the power of the board. Munakata
worked at great speed as if the form had to be
released from within the board before it dissipated,
as though he were but a temporary medium through which
the design, not really his own, could be revealed. As
a result his prints have great spontaneity and a
unique spiritual energy. His first prints were
published in 1928 and by 1935 he had become more
widely recognized for his unusual talent and
personality. Munakata was the first Japanese print
artist to win an international honor when he was
awarded the "Prize of Excellence" at the Second
International Print Exhibition in Lugano, Switzerland
in 1952. The Japanese government awarded him its
highest honor in the arts, the Order of Culture, in
November 1970.

Figure 1 above is a 'sumizuri-e' (printed in black
only) in large format (414x470mm) depicting orchids by
a lake for the month of February from a series of
twelve calendar prints for the year 1956. It is signed
"Shik?" in 'kanji' and "Munakata" in 'romaji' and
includes his large red seal with the honorary Buddhist
title 'H?gen' (the second highest ranking, awarded to
him in 1962 by two Buddhist temples). Munakata would
typically date his prints with the year he printed
each impression, not the year the block was carved.
Such is the case with his orchids print, which was
carved in 1956 but is here dated 1962. Munakata has
drawn through a chrysanthemum blossom his familiar
'kakihan' of a stylized pine needle (said to derive
from one used by his grandfather who was a swordmaker
and his father, who used it on tools for his
blacksmith's trade). Impressions of "February -
Orchids" are known with hand coloring, a technique
used to great effect by Munakata (see figs. 2a-2b
below).
Munakata first used the technique of 'urazaishiki'
("back coloring," a term associated with paintings) in
1938 when he brushed colors on the back of prints in
his series 'Kannongy? hangakan'. An example of this
technique is shown in figure 2a on the left. It is
signed in pencil, has two artist's seals stamped in
red, is dated 7/28/59, and is numbered 3/70 (Munakata
did not typically number his prints). Munakata's
energetic application of bright colors on the verso of
the print can be readily seen. He expressed the
vitality of his vision by boldly brushing on the
colors without confining each color to within specific
areas of the design [see larger image]. Note that
Munakata did not restrict himself to coloring only the
white areas of the print, but also applied wide
strokes of dark blue and purple even in the
sumi-printed (black) areas. The colors have bled
through to the front only where he has cut away the
block to produce the white areas, This effect plus the
purposeful softening of the original intensity of the
colors can be seen in fig. 2b on the right. ©1999 by
J. Fiorillo

BIBLIOGRAPHY
- --- Castile, Rand: Shik? Munakata: Works on Paper. New
York: Japan Society, 1982.
- --- Fujii, Hisae: Shik? Munakata. Tokyo: National
Museum of Modern Art, 1985, pp. iv-ix and plate 48-2.
- --- Jenkins, Donald: Images of a Changing World:
Japanese Prints of the Twentieth Century. Portland:
Portland Art Museum, 1983, pp. 106-110.
- --- Stanley-Baker, Joan: Mokuhan: The Woodcuts of
Munakata & Matsubara. Victoria, BC: Art Gallery of
Greater Victoria, 1976.
- --- Yanagi, S?ri: The Woodblock and the Artist: The
Life and Work of Shik? Munakata. Tokyo & New York:
Kodansha, 1991.

- --- FOO KWEE HORNG <khfoo@moe.edu.sg> wrote:
> Thanks for replying Barbara. I would say that they
> were
> contemporaries though Picasso was about 20 years
> older. They do
> share much similarities; like folk art influence,
> mythological
> themes, prodigious output, eroticism in later years
> (if I did not
> get my facts wrong!). However, I think Picasso made
> only one
> woodcut; either in 1906 or 1908. Not much has been
> written about
> Munakata except for the one edited by Sori Yanagi.
> So far, I've
> found only 2 books on Munakata and a few others
> (Contemporary
> Japanese Prints) with a little on him. Any other
> sources from
> anyone out there?
> 
> 


------------------------------

From: FOO KWEE HORNG <khfoo@moe.edu.sg>
Date: Sun, 12 Aug 2001 13:24:46 +0800 (WST)
Subject: [Baren 15372] Munakata-Japanese Picasso? 

Dear all,
Thanks for all those speedy responses pertaining to
Munakata. Call it thirst for knowledge or greed but keep it
coming! Do we have a Japanese member in Baren or one residing in
Japan?

------------------------------

End of Baren Digest V16 #1518
*****************************