Object number1991.12.10

Two Mexicans

Date1968

Artist Junichiro Sekino (Japanese, 1914-1988)

CultureJapanese

MediumWoodblock print on paper

Edition36/100

DimensionsImage: 16 15/16 x 16 9/16 in. (43 x 42 cm)
Sheet: 22 7/16 x 18 1/8 in. (57 x 46 cm)
Matted: 25 1/2 x 23 in. (64.8 x 58.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Robert S. and Barbara B. Black (Barbara T. Bell, class of 1924)

Period20th c

Classification(s)

SignedOn recto, lower right edge, signed and dated: J Sekino '68

InscribedOn recto, inscribed lower right edge: 36/100

Label TextSekino Jun’ichirō was among the most renowned Japanese printmakers of the twentieth century. His career began in late 1930s Tokyo, where he studied under Kōshirō Onchi, an exponent of the “creative prints” movement (sōsaku-hanga). This movement encouraged artists to be involved at every step of the printmaking process, in a departure from the traditional Japanese method of dividing the process among a designer, a block carver, a printer, and a publisher. Beginning in the 1950s, Sekino earned international recognition for his color woodblock prints. They became a form of diplomatic currency, gifted by the imperial family to foreign dignitaries and heads of state. Sekino was among a group of writers and artists invited by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Japan Society of New York to tour the United States, part of the Foundation’s post-World War II efforts to reorient Japan towards American-style democracy through “soft power” cultural and economic exchanges. During the visit, Sekino traveled to Mexico and later translated his impressions into the idiom of woodblock printing. This Guanajuato scene finds two figures in sombreros and sarapes walking down one of the city’s narrow cobblestone alleys, surrounded by colorful buildings and wrought-iron balconies, the dome of a church visible in the background.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu