Sekino Jun'ichiro (Japanese, 1914-1988), Summer Flowers

Dated 1974, woodblock print, large print in bright colors of a lush summer garden with a myriad of flowers and plants creating a bright happy composition, with a red artist seal to lower right corner of image, pencil signed by artist, Jun Sekino, in lower margin together with edition number 18/128, and date 1974, presented floating above mat with clear corner holders under glass in gilt wood frame.

Frame dimensions 36 1/2 x 28 1/2 in., Sight size 31 1/2 x 22 1/4 in.

Collection of Michael and Ingrid Kelly, Worldwide Gallery Antiques, Fredericksburg, Virginia From the personal collection of antique gallery owners Michael and Ingrid Kelly who owned Worldwide Gallery Antiques, dealing with antiques for over sixty-five years, retiring to Fredericksburg, Virginia, where they filled their own residence with Asian and Belle Epoch fine arts and antiques.

Jun'ichiro Sekino was a Japanese printmaker best known for his portraits of kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, and geishas. His woodblock prints were completed in a style that merged both Western and Japanese aesthetics. The artist went on to study under Koshiro Onchi, the founder of the sosaku-hanga movement, which encouraged self-expression in artists. It was with Onchi in Tokyo where Sekino learned Japanese woodblock printing, Western-style etching, and painting. He won the Teiten Prize for etching in 1936, became a member of the Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Japan Print Association), and began teaching at Kobe University in Japan in 1965. Sekino died in 1988 in Tokyo, Japan. His works are in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, among others.

The prints on offer here by Sekino show a rare side of the artist as he looks at traditional Japanese landscapes and interprets them in abstract manner with vivacious colors.

Good condition; light even overall toning to margin; two small creases to right side margin; some wear and loss to frame; not examined outside of the frame.