About This Print

"Hara has been working with the theme of 'strokes' since the 1970s. The strokes are paths of light, each one a range of intensities captured by Hara's magnificent technique of colour gradation."¹  His prints, exhibiting "flat coolness and perfect evenness,"² at first appear to be silkscreens, but they are achieved through lithography "often involving many different printings"³ using the artist's "special technique with a method of applying the ink with huge rollers to give his work an element of unbelievable smoothness, lushness, and control."⁴

I was immediately drawn to Hara's work when it first came to my attention in 2007, seeing its indebtedness to traditional Japanese calligraphy in its movement while substituting a rainbow of saturated colors for the traditional black sumi ink. I find Hara's work cerebral, alternately calming and exciting, and continually interesting.

Takeshi Hara Strokes portfolio, 1993 Vol. 1, Lithograph 5 sheets, Hosokawa paper, 1993, published by Gallery APA [Includes Strokes 93-7 (IHL Cat. #693), 93-8, 93-9 (IHL Cat. #694), 93-10 (IHL Cat. #695) and 93-11 (IHL Cat. #696)]

detail - Strokes 93-11 click on image to enlarge

¹ Contemporary Japanese Prints: The Urban Bonsai, Jackie Menzies, Art Gallery of New South Wales1992, p. 29
² Ibid.
³ Contemporary Japanese Prints: Symbols of a Society in Transition, Lawrence Smith, Harper & Row Publishers, 1985, p. 28.
⁴ Collecting Modern Japanese Prints, Then and Now, Mary and Norman Tolman, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1994, p. 126.

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#696
Title	Strokes 93-11
Artist	Hara Takeshi (b. 1942)
Signature	Takeshi Hara
Seal
Publication Date	1993
Edition	55 of 60
Publisher	Gallery APA
Printer	self-printed
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	excellent
Genre	contemporary lithograph
Miscellaneous	printed on Hosokawa paper
Format
H x W Paper	28 3/4 x 20 3/8 in. (73 x 51.7 cm)
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