Shimamaki Coast
Artist
Kitaoka Fumio
(Japanese, 1918 – 2007)
Date1973
PeriodShōwa period (1926–1989)
CultureJapanese
MediumWoodblock print; ink and color on paper
ClassificationPrints
ProvenanceCharles and Robyn Citrin, n.d. - 2015; donated to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 2015 - present.
Credit LineGift of Charles and Robyn Citrin, 2015
Object numberSN11495.21
The village of Shimamaki is located in eastern Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. Using curved lines, linear slices, jagged gouges, and scratchy crosshatching, Kitaoka Fumio manifested Shimamaki’s rugged beauty, as well as the physical process of carving the blocks. The powerful wave with clawlike projections of foam recalls designs by 19th century print artists like Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858). A student of both Onchi Kōshirō and Hiratsuka Un’ichi, Kitaoka also studied at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris from 1954, and in the mid-1960s came to the United States to teach at the Minneapolis School of Art and the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
On View
Not on viewImage: 15 3/4 × 21 9/16 in. (40 × 54.8 cm)
Matt: 16 1/8 × 21 7/8 in. (41 × 55.6 cm)
Frame: 24 × 30 in. (61 × 76.2 cm)
