Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi affordable media for provocative prints
Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi printmakers
Two Japanese men, Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi
Two Japanese men, Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi, born in the same year, launched a renaissance of printmaking in postwar Japan. However, they followed starkly divergent paths in their work, in terms of materials, character, and subject matter. One meditated on nature and treasured the soft lines of woodblock and copperplate prints; the other experimented with sharp colours, Western graphics and 3D-style prints.
Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi’s artistic lives
As each evolved, the long roads of their artistic lives brought their art closer together in a way neither could have expected. By the turn of the century, they converged in both style and subject matter; when viewed side by side, their later works show a remarkable affinity.
Now, the University Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Hong Kong (UMAG), has united its prints for the first time in a new exhibition that highlights these two printmakers as well as their influence on a resurgence of printmaking in Japan: Japanese Printmakers of the Twentieth-Century Renaissance: Kurosaki Akira and Nakabayashi Tadayoshi.
Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi printmakers
Art collector Steven Co, on whose collection the exhibition was founded, was first inspired to explore the work of these printmakers when he came across a print by Nakabayashi that surprised him with its subtlety. “Despite the intense blackness in Nakabayashi’s work, it is very textured. That is unusual in copperplate printing. It’s the depth that really attracted me. When I saw it, I said to myself, I want to know more.”
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As Co further explored their oeuvre, he was struck by the convergent evolution of the two artists’ prints. He had previously collaborated with UMAG to celebrate the work of Noda Tetsuya – who, together with Kurosaki and Nakabayashi, is the third member of what Co calls the Three Titans of Japanese printmaking – and welcomed the opportunity to tell their story.
Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi expand access to this art form
By collaborating with Professor Florian Knothe, Director of UMAG, as well as Director of the Museum Studies Programme at the University of Hong Kong, Co hoped to share his passion. The two intend to expand access to this unusual art form to a broader international audience.
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According to Professor Knothe, lovers of Japanese printmaking come from around the globe, but the opportunities to see originals are rare. “It’s special for Hong Kong to have such a large exhibition of Japanese prints,” Professor Knothe explains. “You don’t see this many prints outside Japan.”
Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi trained in traditional techniques
“There are literally disciples coming from around the world,” Co says. Professor Knothe explains that the first art fair to exhibit such works took place in Tokyo in 1957, provoking opposite reactions from foreign and local visitors. “These new printmakers were trained in traditional techniques but used modern themes. And the Japanese audiences appreciated moving away from the old-fashioned ways, but the foreign audiences were delighted to learn about the traditional methods.”
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Each of the two artists underwent rigorous training while maintaining a robust interest in traditional printing methods, such as ukiyo-e, the world-renowned woodblock technique. Although they were the same age and had similar training, Kurosaki and Nakabayashi pursued different topics and employed distinctive colour palettes.
Nakabayashi Tadayoshi grew up in Niigata
Nakabayashi Tadayoshi, born in Oi, Tokyo, in 1937, grew up in Japan’s snow country in Niigata, a land of natural beauty marked by monochromes and deeply textured blacks. He discovered the potential of etching in 1961 when attending a lecture at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music by etching master Komai Tetsuro (1920-1976), and later became Komai’s assistant.
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Throughout his life, he embraced a deep relationship with the natural world; he observed the close relationship between etching and human life, and connected the idea of the eroding and the eroded with humans controlling and being controlled.
Nakabayashi Tadayoshi’s point of view
Co takes particular note of the points of view used in Nakabayashi’s prints. “A common theme in Nakabayashi’s work is the point of view of looking at the ground: is it respectful or apologetic, or praying? But over time, this point of view moved from looking down to looking up.
He put a lot of importance on, and respect for, placement.” His artistic progress has been linear, according to Co: from the ground, the point of view moves up to the sky. “It is back to the same topic, but on a different plane.”
Nakabayashi Tadayoshi chose to use ukiyo-e because wood is a soft material
Nakabayashi was also one of the earliest twentieth-century printmakers to create artwork directly concerned with his surroundings, says Professor Knothe. “It was not just a revival of printmaking.”
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According to Co, Nakabayashi chose to use ukiyo-e because wood is a soft, natural material that invokes the tatami mat, whose form changes when pressed down by your body. Living in Tokyo today at 87, the artist remains active, creating new works that build on these central themes.
Kurosaki Akira was born in Japanese-occupied Manchuria
Kurosaki Akira, on the other hand (1937-2019), came to printmaking via a circuitous path. Born in Japanese-occupied Manchuria, he began studying oil painting when he entered junior high school with the Western-style artist Ito Tsuguro (1907-1994). He then entered the Department of Design of the Kyoto Institute of Technology in 1956 and trained as an architect.
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His interest in printmaking was sparked through visits to second-hand bookshops and ukiyo-e print shops; he visited traditional carvers and printers to learn woodblock techniques and created his first woodblock print in 1965.
Kurosaki Akira started in oil painting and taught architecture
Professor Knothe says, “Kurosaki started in oil painting and taught architecture, and you can see the geometrical forms and 3D compositions in his work. The colours are much brighter, achieved through silkscreen printing, and look very different from nineteenth-century examples.
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He was experimenting with papermaking and interested in cultures not only in the ordinary sense but when it comes to materials and techniques: he was influenced by the new graphic designs seen in America, and by different kinds of paper, for example, from Korea.” Among the American-influenced prints, visitors can see works inspired by Time magazine covers and New York street signs.
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Kurosaki Akira transforms a taboo
“It’s as if Kurosaki was pursuing the ‘flavour of the year’,” Co jokes, “always moving on to explore other things.”
Kurosaki crossed the boundaries of what was previously acceptable in Japanese printmaking. In several of his prints, he deliberately transforms a taboo – ink bleeding beyond the borders of the printing block – into a distinctive feature of the work.
Kurosaki Akira Eight Views of Omi
A group of Kurosaki prints shown in the combined gallery, Eight Views of Omi, are based on his life and environment but printed on Korean paper. In this set, created around 2009-2011, the artist became very abstract, while his last work is very naturalistic. This is where the two artists converge.
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The layout of the exhibition, on the first floor of the T. T. Tsui Gallery at UMAG, reflects the early divergence and later unity of the two printmakers. Nakabayashi’s subtle, natural works are displayed in the right-hand gallery, while Kurosaki’s vibrant, angular prints are shown in the left-hand gallery.
Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi prints
Visitors can explore each set of prints before viewing the largest room, where works by both artists are on display. In this final presentation, the line separating the two is invisible and almost unnoticeable – a testament to the evolution of both artists over the years.
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Through their innovative experimentation, the two artists spearheaded a resurgence of creative printmaking in Japan, further developing and expanding upon established printing techniques. While it was propelled by technical invention and newly emerging abstract styles, its themes engaged with the rapid transformations of post-war Japan. This era witnessed a trend toward self-expression and ushered in an unprecedented age of experimentation and innovation in the arts.
Kurosaki Akira & Nakabayashi Tadayoshi exhibition
“An exhibition starts with an idea, but it only comes together when we install it,” says Professor Knothe. In this way, the very different yet converging paths of these two artists came together in a surprising, diverse, and coherent introduction to the beauty and intensity of modern Japanese prints.
Text Jan Lee / Photo The University Museum and Art Gallery
