Sekino Jun'ichirō - 阿伊努图案（裸体） - 1980 - 木版画 自作版画 - 日本 - 20世纪

Art ist: SEKINO Jun'ichirō (関野凖一郎)
Title: Ainu Moyō (アイヌ模様) – Ainu Patterns (Nude)
Technique: Colour woodblock print (mokuhanga) – Sōsaku Hanga
Date: 1980 (based on a painting dated 1940)
Publisher: Self-published (Artist's own edition)
Edition: 75/180
Format: Ōban 大判 – 27.0 × 37.5 cm (10.6 × 14.8 inches), printed on washi paper
Signature: Pencil signed "Jun. Sekino" within the image, with edition number (75/180)

1. Impression & Colors:

Very good impression with vivid, beautifully saturated colors throughout. The bold palette — deep emerald green with swirling Ainu-inspired patterns, warm golden yellows, soft lilac, and sensitively modulated flesh tones — is exceptionally well preserved.

2. Paper:

Good overall condition. Minor age-related toning is present mainly in the margins, consistent with the print's age. Some scattered foxing is visible primarily from the verso and does not significantly impact the image on the recto. The paper retains good body and flexibility.

3. Ainu Patterns and the Nude — A Forty-Year Artistic Journey:

This striking composition depicts a reclining female nude on a daybed in a richly decorated interior, surrounded by bold textile patterns drawn from Ainu artistic traditions. The swirling green carpet with its distinctive curvilinear scrollwork, the geometric chevrons of the upholstery, and the dotted stripe wallcovering all reference the decorative vocabulary of Japan's indigenous Ainu people — a subject that held deep and enduring fascination for Sekino throughout his career.

The composition has a remarkable origin: it is based on a painting Sekino created in 1940, reimagined four decades later as a woodblock print. This long gestation speaks to the importance the image held for the artist. The nude figure, curled on white drapery amid the dense patterning of the interior, creates a compelling dialogue between organic human form and the geometric energy of the surrounding textiles. The scene recalls the interiors of Matisse or Bonnard in its decorative richness, yet the technique is unmistakably mokuhanga — each flat plane of color, each crisp outline, achieved through hand-carved and hand-printed woodblocks.

The print's significance within Sekino's oeuvre is further confirmed by its selection as the cover image for his 1984 portfolio Rafu to Joyū (裸婦と女優 — "Nudes and Actresses"), one of his important late publications issued in a limited edition of 180 copies. To the right of the figure, a vanity with mirror and what appears to be a bottle of cosmetics completes the intimate domestic setting, grounding the composition in a lived, personal space.

4. Sekino Jun'ichirō: Master of Sōsaku-Hanga:

Sekino Jun'ichirō (1914–1988) is one of the most celebrated and versatile artists of the sōsaku-hanga (creative prints) movement. As a devoted practitioner of the sōsaku-hanga ideal, Sekino personally designed, carved, and printed all of his works, maintaining complete artistic control from concept to finished impression.
Born in Aomori City in northern Japan, Sekino grew up alongside Shikō Munakata and studied under Kōshirō Onchi, the founder of the sōsaku-hanga movement. He gained early recognition by winning the Teiten Prize for etching in 1936, and went on to receive some of Japan's highest cultural honors: the Art Encouragement Prize of the Ministry of Education (芸術選奨文部大臣賞) in 1975 and the Medal with Purple Ribbon (紫綬褒章) in 1981.

Sekino's lifelong interest in Ainu culture and its distinctive artistic traditions — particularly their bold textile patterns and decorative motifs — recurs throughout his body of work and gives prints like this one a uniquely Japanese cultural depth. While best known internationally for his celebrated Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō series and his powerful portraits, Sekino's range was extraordinary, encompassing landscapes, still lifes, animals, dolls, and figure studies. His prints are held in major collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the British Museum.