Reader Collection > Exhibitions >Japanese Bird Art, 1950 to present day Part 3 Screenprints by 68 artists

Introduction

In the early twentieth century screenprinting was first used by American artists to produce art prints. To make a screenprint a template of the design was first created using a screen, typically a piece of mesh fabric (e.g., silk, polyester) or less often a piece of porous paper, which was covered with a non-porous substance except in areas of the design. The template was then placed on top of a piece of paper and ink was applied. The ink only passed through areas of the screen not covered by the non-porous substance to reproduce the design on the paper below. For multi-colored prints multiple templates were made, one for each color.

Japanese graphic artists began to use screenprinting in the mid-twentieth century. Since then about ninety artists have made screenprints featuring a bird subject. Sixty-eight of these artists are represented in the Reader Collection of Japanese Art. This virtual exhibition includes an example of the bird art of each of these artists. Some artists (prints 1-11) chose to depict birds objectively (i.e., accurate shape and color) while the majority (prints 12-48) provided only a semi-objective view of their bird subject. The remaining artists (prints 49-68) were even more creative and intentionally distorted the shape and color of the birds they drew.

For each of the sixty-eight prints in this exhibition the following information is provided: name of the artist, name of the bird depicted (when identifiable), print title (if any) and print size.

Additional Reading

The Japan Foundation. 1985. Contemporary Japanese Prints 1950-1983. Published by the Japan Foundation, Japan.

1   Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis) by Takeo Honma, entitled dawn, 380 x 270 mm

2   Rock dove (Columba livia) by Hideaki Katō, entitled messenger from the gods – 2, 350 x 240 mm

3   Great tit (Parus major) by Masaru Aoyagi, 360 x 470 mm

4   Japanese grosbeak (Eophona personata) by Ikki Matsumoto, 360 x 415 mm

5   Little egret (Egretta garzetta) by Nobuo Shinagawa, 220 x 270 mm

6   Little egret (Egretta garzetta) by Masayasu Uchida, entltled gentle breeze, 360 x 470 mm

7   Long-tailed finch (Phoephila acuticauda), diamond firetail (Stagonopleura guttata), Gouldian finch (Chloebia gouldiae) and Java sparrow (Padda oryzivora) by Masayoshi Kawa, 240 x 260 mm

8   Common kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) by Kiyoshi Asakura, entitled move, 540 x 425 mm

9   Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis) by Sōhō Ikegami, entitled rays of the rising sun, 530 x 385 mm

10   Duck (Anas sp.) by Takehiko Konda, entitled birds of the cape, 490 x 385 mm

11   Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis) by Yōhō Katō, entitled flight red Fuji, 280 x 200 mm

12   Swan (Cygnus sp.) by Toshisada Baba, entitled swans, 480 x 285

13   Rock dove (Columba livia) by Masuiyama, 330 x 475 mm

14   Rock dove (Columba livia) by Kō Iimure, entitled song of the season five, 300 x 395 mm

15  Flamingo (Phoenicopterus sp.) by Minoru Tabata, entitled flamingo, 440 x 230 mm

16   Great egret (Ardea alba) by Tadayoshi Yamamoto, entitled north country phantom picture, 650 x 475

17   Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo) by Yukio Katsuda, entitled No. 124, 320 x 475 mm

18   Little egret (Egretta garzetta) by Hidenobu Ōshima, 210 x 275 mm

19   Red-crowned crane (Grus japonensis) by Shinbō Kogure, entitled blue sky, 260 x 205 mm

20   Gull (Larus sp.) by Shigeyuki Ōhashi, entitled migration II, 375 x 280 mm

21   Scops owl (Otus sp.) by Akihiro Nakamura, entitled happy owl, 160 x 200 mm

22   Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Tarō Gomi, entitled domestic fowl, 290 x 290 mm

23   Daurian redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus) by Akiko Yoshimura, entitled Happy Wedding XXIV, 215 x 225 mm

24   Daurian redstart (Phoenicurus auroreus) by Masumi Ozawa, entitled ride on the bird, 135 x 165 mm

25   Hawk (Accipiter sp.) by Tetsuo Saitō, entitled flight, 510 x 455 mm

26   Black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) by Yutaka Takayanagi, entitled gull flying – Fuji, 420 x 300 mm

27   Little egret (Egretta garzetta) by Hisami Kunitake, entitled flying, 200 x 230 mm

28   Domestic goose (Anser cygnoides) by  Kōtarō Yoshioka, entitled family, 245 x 275 mm

29   Ural owl (Strix uralensis) by Ayaka Sen, entitled your health, 200 x 275 mm

30   Ural owl (Strix uralensis) by Yasuyuki Kobayashi, entitled sunset swing, 645 x 765 mm

31  Hawk (Accipiter sp.) by Saburō Hattori, 275 x 340 mm

32   Hawk (Accipiter sp.) by Shigeru Sano, entitled dance, 310 x 360 mm

33   Crane (Grus sp.) by Shin’ichi Yoshizu, entitled stardust, 480 x 365 mm

34   Swan (Cygnus sp.) by Fumiko Hori, entitled rose lake from the Nutcracker, 645 x 375 mm

35   Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Seikō Kawachi, entitled flying – Hokusai, 500 x 750 mm

36   Scops owl (Otus sp.) by Masasuke Chiba, entitled autumn, 300 x 600 mm

37   Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Nobuyoshi Koga, entitled greeting of love, 140 x 200 mm

38   Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Hiroshi Kabe, entitled two, 195 x 270 mm

39   Scops owl (Otus sp.) by Keisuke Ohba, entitled love, 105 x 150 mm

40   Collared scops-owl (Otus lettia) by George Ueda, entitled collared scops owl – older brother, 125 x 165 mm

41   Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Taeko Takabe, 270 x 265 mm

42   Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus) by Asako Toyoizumi, entitled red bird, 185 x 190 mm

43   Macaw (Ara sp.) and unidentified birds by Gō Yayanagi, 450 x 455 mm

44   Japanese bush-warbler (Cettia diphone) by Sadao Satō, entitled plum crest A, 345 x 375 mm

45   Gull (Larus sp.) by Kōzō Inoue, entitled gull IV, 660 x 500 mm

46   Dove (Columba livia) by Seitarō Kuroda, 400 x 300 mm

47   Gull (Larus sp.) by Kenshi Nakamura, entitled seagull – JB, 260 x 260  mm

48   Owl (Famly Strigidae) by Tsutomu Uchiyama, entitled bird, 455 x 370 mm

49   Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Masao Ohba, entitled red bird, 105 x 150 mm

50   Unidentified bird by Rokuichi Kaibara, entitled flight, 635 x 695 mm

51   Peafowl (Pavo sp.) by Yoshiko Sawa, 290 x 210 mm

52   Unidentified bird by Ay-Ō Iijima, entitled sings – A, 170 x 120 mm

53   Red-flanked bluetail (Tarsiger cyanurus) by Yukio Koga, entitled oleander, 370 x 290 mm

54   Unidentified bird by Mari Aoe, entitled golden sky – on the bird of dreams, 325 x 255 mm

55   Ural owl (Strix uralensis) by Shizuo Hariu, entitled owl, 505 x 645 mm

56   Mythical hō-ō bird by Kazuo Yoshizawa, entitled immortal bird, 360 x 535 mm

57   Unidentified bird by Yasoji Wakayama, entitled machine and bird, 300 x 275 mm

58   Unidentified bird by Hiroshi Kubota, 260 x 270 mm

59   Unidentified bird by K. Ouichi, entitled in the forest, 180 x 185 mm

60   Unidentified bird by Masao Kohmura, entitled bird to human space figure, 600 x 600 mm

61   Unidentified bird by Kunio Imamura, entitled morning bird, 350 x 450 mm

62   Unidentified bird by Kunihide Matsumoto, entitled bird, 210 x 245 mm

63   Unidentified bird by Naoko Tanikawa, entitled umbrella, 260 x 365 mm

64   Domestic fowl (Gallus gallus) by Katsuhiko Hibino, 380 x 505 mm

65   Unidentified bird by Hiroyuki Ohnishi, 490 x 355 mm

66   Unidentified bird by N. Shintane, entitled cubic bird, 380 x 285 mm

67   Unidentified bird by Tetsurō Kimura, entitled bird tree, 650 x 790 mm

68   Unidentified bird by Fusako Yose, entitled music of Andean civilization 4, 280 x 380 mm

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