About This Print
One of Hagiwara’s 1962-1964 twenty print homage to the samurai, through abstract renderings of samurai armor. In discussing this themed series of prints Gaton Petit writes:
| In 1962-64, the powerful series pertaining to the martial arts was conceived. The Man in Armor prints are either metallic in appearance or possess the luster of leather, like medieval breastplates. They are visually heavy but far from being dull. Hagiwara's sense of proportion prevents the prints from falling under their own weight.1 |
Wall Card from the Exhibition Three Masters of Abstraction
Hagiwara Hideo, Ida Shōichi and Takahashi Rikio
November 3, 2018 - March 24, 2019
Portland Art Museum, 1219 SW Park Avenue, Portland, OR 97205
萩原英雄 鎧える人 (17)
Hagiwara Hideo (1913-2007) A Man in Armor (17) 1963 Color woodblock print with embossing and mica on paper, printed on both sides
Lent by Irwin Lavenberg, L2018.62.3
Hagiwara created over twenty prints for this series depicting samurai armor. Here, the embossed fittings on the breastplate are particularly apparent.
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Sources: Contemporary Printmaking in Japan, Ronald G. Robertson, Crown Publishers, Inc., 1965, p. 16; Hideo Hagiwara, The Modern Japanese Print Artists, Reifu Shobo, 1992 [日本現代版画 萩原英雄 玲風書房 1992], p. 76; 44 Modern Japanese Print Artists, Gaston Petit, Kodansha International Ltd., 1973 p. 112.
The Carving
Hagiwara starts with 1/8" shina three-ply veneer plywood.2 A typical design might required two pieces of shina, which are carved on both sides, resulting in four blocks. Often he will carve the shapes for two different colors on a block, printing each color separately. He works intuitively, loosely sketching lines directly on the block, avoiding preliminary drawings. Working with a wide array of tools, both traditional, e.g. chisels and knives, and non-traditional, e.g. spikes, nails, electric drills, and wire brushes, Hagiwara carves, gouges and incises the blocks. As he carves "forms are suggested, discovered, seen and worked out on the block." One of Hagiwara's innovations is to use a spike to cut through the first layer of veneer, achieving an effect similar to that of metal plate etching. The intent is to create an irregular broken line which cannot be properly made with a traditional knife or chisel.
The Printing
Hagiwara considers the printing to be the most physically demanding task in making a print.
Before he begins the printing, he prepares his print paper, hanga torinoko, by leaving dry sheetsbetween wet newspapers until the sheets are thoroughly damp. The dampened paper allows the pigments anddyes to penetrate deeply into the paper. Hagiwara produces the textural effectscharacteristic of his work by placing the reverse side of this print paper onan already inked block and then using a coarse wire baren in such a way that portions of the ink come through to thefront or upper surface of the paper. Depending upon the type of baren3 used (and Hagiwara creates his own specialized non-traditional barens), many different textural and tonal effects can be achieved. To print the intaglio-type lines described above Hagiwara inks the blocks with with water-base colors, then gently wipes the color off the surface as in intaglio plate printmaking, and, with full baren pressure on the back side of the paper, lifts sufficient color from the lines to create an etched effect. Hagiwara also makes extensive use of traditional woodblock special effects such as embossing and the application of mica.
Hagiwara uses a combination of both inks and dyes to achieve both transparency and opaqueness, an approach he carries over from his oil painting. He uses either gouache or poster color for opaqueness and, for superior color transparency, he uses dyes. Often he will mix opaque colors and dyes to achieve the desired transparency.
Of his many innovations in woodblock carving and printing, the one most identified with his work is "both sides printing", in which the dampened paper is dyed before printing by laying its backside onto an ink soaked piece of smooth shina and then forcing the pigment through the paper using a custom baren so that varying degrees of ink penetrate the paper showing through to the front. This results in a textural surface on which to continue with "normal" printing and this technique brings great color depth to the final print.
Hagiwara cites his work as an inspector at the Takamizawa Woodcut Company which specialized in woodblock reproduction of ukiyo-e prints with the inspiration for "both sides printing" as he became enthralled with the ink penetration to the back side of the paper on many traditional prints.
Hagiwara typically uses three or four woodblocks that can undergo over twenty inkings to achieve his desired look.
1 44 Modern Japanese Print Artists, Gaston Petit, Kodansha International Ltd., 1973 p. 112.
2 Shina is a fine-grained plywood from Hokkaido of very high quality, free of voids, knots or blemishes.
3 The baren is traditionally consists of an inner core of tightly twisted and coiled strips of bamboo sheath sandwiched between a back plate consisting of a laminate of thin kozo paper and a cover of bamboo sheath. It is used in a rubbing motion on the paper to transfer ink from the carved block.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #1765
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| Title or Description | 鎧へる人 (17) A Man in Armor (17) [Yoroeru hito (17)] |
| Series | A Man in Armor |
Artist
| Hagiwara Hideo (1913 - 2007) |
Signature
|  hideo hagiwara - pencil signed by artist in English in lower left margin |
| Seal |
|
| Publication Date | 1963
|
| Edition | 7 of 30
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| Publisher | self-published |
| Carver | self-carved |
| Printer | self-printed |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | good - light handling and printing creases; light toning
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| Genre | sosaku hanga (creative print)
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| Miscellaneous |
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| Format |
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| H x W Paper | 38 1/4 x 25 3/8 in. (97.2 x 64.5 cm) |
| H x W Image | 33 1/2 x 23 3/16 in. (85.1 x 58.9 cm)
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| Collections This Print | Art Institute Chicago 1977.128 |
| Reference Literature | Hideo Hagiwara, The Modern Japanese Print Artists, Reifu Shobo, 1992, plate 21
日本現代版画 萩原英雄 玲風書房 1992 |
last revision:8/12/2021
8/22/2018
