Woodblock Print

Blue tonal abstract expressionist woodblock print with lines and red dots positioned at the top of the composition. The work is signed, dated and titled by the artist.

Born in Tokyo in 1911, Hiroyuki Tajima graduated from Nihon University in 1932. He continued his studies at Tokyo School of Fine Arts, graduating from the Western-style painting division in 1934. He also studied woodblock printing with Yoshio Nagase and fabric dyeing under Matsugoro Hirokawa during this time. Tajima made his first print in 1946 and joined Bijutsu Bunka Kyokai that same year. This organization was instrumental in the revitalization of abstract printing and surrealist painting in the wake of World War II. Between 1950 and 1952, Tajima took a break from printmaking to write short stories and poetry. He returned to printmaking in the 1960s, participating in international exhibitions and exploring unlikely materials and complex textures in his abstract prints. Exploring rich colors and entrancing textures, Tajima’s abstract woodblock prints express the freedom and imagination of individual artistic expression. Sometimes fantastical, sometimes deeply sensitive, sometimes powerful, these abstract woodblock prints have the ability to emotionally move the viewer through innovative technique, luminous gold, and saturated, textured planes of color. His work is renowned for being some of the most important abstract art of the postwar period, blending East and West and celebrating the power of the individual artistic imagination.

H 33.5 in. x W 27 in. x D 1 in.

H 26 in x W 19.5 in.