John & Geraldine Lilley Museum of Art
Reno, Nevada
The Lilley Museum of Art is located on the main campus of the University of Nevada, Reno.
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Artist: Shikō Munakata (Japanese, 1903-1975)
Shikō Munakata is a leading figure in Japanese twentieth-century prints. Being well documented, both in his own writings, studies, exhibitions, biographies and collections—it comes to a surprise that his life before 1933 is not as well known. Even though his is mostly remembered for his prints, he was also a poet, writer on art, painter, calligrapher and book designer.
In 1921, he began to teach himself oil painting. The inspiration to this technique was inspired by reproductions of Vincent van Gogh’s works. Later on, he was inspired by Kawakami Sumio’s woodblock prints, that by around 1927, he began to experiment with woodblock techniques. His first one-man show was in 1931, where he displayed his prints in Tokyo.
Munakata first really characteristic black and white prints, 'Nohi' ('Moorland Fires', 1935), were rapidly followed by 'Kojiki' and 'Bandafu'. His main focus was on Folk-Art and Shinto, which became his main focus on prints being produced. He would later on experiment with color woodblock.
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