African mask

Object Details

• Artist

  Hiratsuka Un'ichi 平塚運一 (1895-1997)

• Label

  Hiratsuka Un'ichi was a crucial representative of the so-called "creative print" (sōsaku hanga) movement. Sōsaku hanga artists sought to elevate print-making--a craft that traditionally involved an established chain of manufacture with multiple agents involved--to the fine arts. Drawing from the U.S.-European understanding of the term, the fine arts required production by a single artist--as opposed to a workshop or a production chain--who made artworks from beginning to finish with their own hands. This artistic immediacy represents itself emphatically in the rough textures and often black-and-white compositions of early sōsaku hanga artists. In many ways, Hiratsuka is the embodiment of sōsaku hanga artists' success to reposition printing among the fine arts. In 1935, he became the first professor of print-making at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, now Tokyo University of the Arts, a major step in putting prints on par with painting and sculpture.

• Collection

  Freer Study Collection

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Patricia Lyons Simon Newman

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1970s

• Name

  Hiratsuka, Un'ichi

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Art, Showa era (1926 - 1989), Japanese Art, Masks

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings