About This Print

One of two almost identical portraits of Sekino's son Yowsaku¹, both originally created in 1952 and pictured in the artist's c. 1961 self-published catalog of prints, as shown below.

In the same year, Sekino also created the below oil painting, likely prior to the prints.

画家の息子 (後に「青い少年」 に改作 1952作 no. 125 48 x 39 cm The Artist's Son (Later remade “The Boy in Blue”) source: Sekino Jun'ichirō hanga sakuhin shū 關野準一郎版画作品集 [Jun-ichiro Sekino The Prints], Sekino, Abe Shuppansha, 1997 p. 167

My Son, 1956  Image: 18 3/4 x 14 13/16 in. (47.6 x 37.6 cm); Paper: 21 1/8 x 17 1/16 in. (53.6 x 43.4 cm) source: Los Angeles County Museum of Art Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Felix Juda (M.79.176.67)

My Son (Gaka no shonen - Artist's Boy), 1956 18/30 Figurative Dimensions: 21.5 x 27.5" source: Berkeley Morrison Library  Graphic Arts Loan Collection

The Artist's Son, 1952  Color woodblock print 55.5 x 44.4 cm (21 13/16 x 17 7/16 in.) source: Art Institute Chicago,  Japanese Print Purchase Fund, 1953.442

Prints marked "Ilmé etat" [2nd state]

Gaka no shonen (My son) 12/50, IIme état (second state), 1956  woodcut in colors with mica Gaka no Shonen (My Son), 1956 Woodcut printed in colors with mica on Japanese paper, signed in pencil, dated and annotated '12/50 IIme état' (aside from the edition of 20) 18 1/4 x 14 1/2 in. sheet 21 3/4 x 17 1/8 in. source: Bonhams

43/50, IIme état (second state), 1956

42/100, IIme état (second state), 1956

Sekino's children have often appeared in his prints and Oliver Statler notes: "Ingenuous and friendly, he consistently manages to give the impression of fresh pleasure with the world, but nothing makes him light up like consideration of his three extraordinarily handsome and winning children, two boys and a girl..."²

¹ Like his father, Yowsaku (b. 1944) is a print artist whose background and work can be seen on the website created by his brother Junpei https://www.sekinoworld.com/atelier/
² Modern Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn, Oliver Statler, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1956, p. 65-56.

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#1696
Title	Artist's Son 画家の息子 (as titled in Sekino's self-published c. 1961 catalog "関野準一郎版画作品集 Jun'ichiro Sekino Prints")
Series	none
Artist	Sekino Jun’ichirō (1914 - 1988)
Signature	Jun. Sekino in pencil and stamped in ink
Seal	準 Jun seal (as shown above)
Publication Date	1952
Edition	80/100
Publisher	self-published
Carver	self-carved
Printer	most likely printed by one of the artist's studio printers
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	excellent - minor margin trimming; minor foxing and water stain in margins
Genre	sosaku hanga (creative print)
Miscellaneous
Format	dai oban
H x W Paper	21 x 17 1/4 in. (43.2 x 54.6 cm)
H x W Image	18 5/8 x 15 1/8 in. (32.1 x 45.4 cm)
Collections This Print	Harvard Art Museum 1974.102.77; Carnegie Museum of Art, 89.28.1204; Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield Museum Consortium SC 2012.56.19; The British Museum 1987,0316,0.444 (dated
Reference Literature	Modern Japanese Prints: The Twentieth Century, Amanda T. Zehnder, Carnegie Museum of Art, 2009, p. 157; 関野準一郎版画作品集 Jun'ichiro Sekino Prints, publisher Sekino Jun'ichiro, Tokyo, c. 1961, pl. 1.

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