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NIWA (Birth of the season)

Japanese Color Woodblock Print 

NIWA (Birth of the season)

by Takahashi Rikio, 1978

NIWA (79-C)
IHL Cat. #1471

About This Print

While Japanese gardens are a primary source of material for the artist, the word NIWA (庭), Japanese for garden, made its first appearance in Takahashi's 1977 print titled NIWA R (Garden R) and subsequently appeared in at least 97 print titles, the last being two prints published in 1993, each titled, simply, NIWA.  Also see NIWA (80-K), NIWA (Movement) B2, NIWA (April) and NIWA (Winter Scenery), NIWA (Summer house) and NIWA (Sunshine) in this collection.

This print NIWA (Birth of the season), along with NIWA (Andante), was one of the first two prints of the artist's acquired by the British Museum.  Lawrence Smith describes the print as having "sober tonalities."1

1 Rikio Takahashi, The Woodblock Prints, Abe Publishing Ltd., 1998, p. 12.

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

 
高橋力雄　庭 (季節の誕生)

Takahashi Rikio (1917–1998)

NIWA (Birth of the Season)

1978

Color woodblock print with embossing on paper 
Lent by Irwin Lavenberg, L2017.103.21



Catalogue Raisonné Entry



#360 - Catalogue Raisonné
(Rikio Takahashi, The Woodblock Prints, published by Abe Publishing LTD., 1998) 

Print Details

 IHL Catalog #1471
 Title NIWA (Birth of the season)  庭 (季節の誕生)
 Series NIWA
 Artist 
 Takahashi Rikio (1917-1998)
 Signature 
 Pencil signed by artist - Rikio Takahashi in English
 Seal none
 Date 1978
 Edition 47 of 50
 Publisher self-published
 Impression excellent
 Colors excellent
 Condition excellent - minor adhesive residue 4 spots verso and minor paper loss corners verso
 Genre sosaku hanga (creative print)
 Miscellaneous Niwa translates literally into Garden.
 Format 
 H x W Paper 12 1/2 x 11 1/4 in. (31.8 x 28.6 cm)
 H x W Image 9 1/2 x 8 1/2 in. (24.1 x 21.6 cm) approximate size including artist notations
 Collections This Print British Museum 1981,0227,0.1
 Reference Literature Catalogue Raisonné: Rikio Takahashi, The Woodblock Prints, published by Abe Publishing LTD., 1998, p. 159 number 360, color pl. p. 78.