Reika Iwami (岩見禮花 ''Iwami Reika'', (born 1927 - March 18, 2020) was a

Sōsaku-hanga was an art movement of woodblock printing which was conceived in early 20th-century Japan. It stressed the artist as the sole creator motivated by a desire for self-expression, and advocated principles of art that is "self-drawn" (自画 ''jiga' ...

woodblock printmaker who worked primarily with abstract compositions.

Biography

Iwami was born in Tokyo in 1927 but raised in

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

. She later lived in

Kanagawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

. She studied part time at

Bunka Gakuin is a Japanese vocational school. It opened in 1921 as the first co-educational school in Japan. Alumni * Hisae Imai * Takako Irie * Liu Chi-hsiang * Yoko Mizuki * Akiko Santo * Akira Terao *Mitsu Yashima * Guan Zilan Guan Zilan (; January 1 ...

, and then spent 11 years studying doll-making with

Ryūjo Hori (born Matsue Yamada) was a Japanese dollmaker of traditional dolls. Biography Hori started her career as a painter, but switched to doll making after an epiphany with a piece of gum; seeing the half-chewed gum she was fiddling looked something ...

before turning her attention to printmaking in 1954. She studied with Koshiro Onchi, a prominent founder of the

movement.

Prints

Iwami's prints frequently feature ''sumi'' black ink in solid geometric shapes combined with the organic texture of the wood grain, as well as deeply embossed paper and gold leaf. In 1994, the art dealer Norman Tolman wrote of her work:

"Iwami’s subject is water and its flow, and her genius lies in the almost mystical ability to transmute the grain and texture of pieces of wood she has found into visual images of patterns of water."

In his 1962 book, ''The Modern Japanese Print - An Appreciation'',

James A. Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and ...

described his first encounter with Iwami's prints, and mistaking the work for "another of the gifted young men who were knocking for admission to the ateliers of critical review". Michener concluded that "this Iwami, whoever he was, had already reached a point rather more advanced than competing artists who were just then appearing on the scene." Iwami was a prolific printmaker and among the first women printmakers in Japan to achieve recognition at the same level as her male colleagues.

Collections

The following is a partial list of collections *

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama The is the first public modern art museum in Japan. The museum consists of three halls: Kamakura, Kamakura annex, and Hayama. Outline of halls Kamakura hall (main building) The hall is located in Yukinoshita, Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, ...

MOMA Moma may refer to: People * Moma Clarke (1869–1958), British journalist * Moma Marković (1912–1992), Serbian politician * Momčilo Rajin (born 1954), Serbian art and music critic, theorist and historian, artist and publisher Places ; Ang ...

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

* Art Institute Chicago *

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

Affiliations

Japan Print Association

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwami, Reika 1927 births 2020 deaths Japanese women artists Japanese printmakers Sosaku hanga artists Women graphic designers People from Tokyo