2011.19: Wakai seidai (Young generation)

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2011.19

People

Onchi Kōshirō, Japanese (Tokyo, Japan 1891 - 1955 Tokyo, Japan)

Title

Wakai seidai (Young generation)

Classification

Prints

Work Type

print

Date

1951

Places

Creation Place: East Asia, Japan

Period

Shōwa era, 1926-1989

Culture

Japanese

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/337051

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Woodblock and paper-block print; ink and colors printed on paper; with artist’s stamp reading "Onzi" impressed in black ink within the image; with artist’s title, reading "Wakai seidai," and signature, reading "K. Onzi - 51," written pencil in the lower left corner

Dimensions

paper: H. 26.2 x W. 18 cm (10 5/16 x 7 1/16 in.)

Inscriptions and Marks

• inscription: Artist’s title reading "Wakai seidai" written pencil in the lower left corner, at the bottom of the paper, below the printed elements; the title can be translated “Young Generation”
• inscription: Date and artist signature reading "K. Onzi - 51" written pencil in the lower left corner, at the bottom of the paper, immediately to the right of the title
• stamp: Artist stamp reading "Onzi" in lower-case roman letters impressed in black ink within the image; the stamp appears along the right edge of the print, approximately one-third of the way up from the bottom.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

Onchi Koshiro, Japan (1951-1955), bequest; to his son, Onchi Kunio, Japan (1955-1990). Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton, Massachusetts (1990- 2011), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2011.

Footnotes:
Created in Japan in 1951 by the artist Onchi Koshiro (1891-1955),
Onchi Kunio (1920-2001) is son of Onchi Koshiro;
Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton (b. 1937)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Elizabeth and Neil Swinton in honor of John M. Rosenfield

Accession Year

2011

Object Number

2011.19

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Descriptions

Description

Titled by the artist "Wakai seidai", or “Young Generation”, this abstract, non-representational print is vertically oriented and brightly colored; it could be fairly described as “Abstraction in Black, Royal Blue, Coral Red, and Silvery Gray”. The printed forms comprise the following elements:

A vertically oriented rectangle printed in silvery gray ink and occupying much of the print’s lower left quadrant

A horizontally oriented rectangle printed in black ink and occupying the central portion of the right vertical half of the print

An inverted L-shaped element, its corners rounded, its horizontal bar pointing toward the composition’s left edge, printed in coral red pigment and rising through the right vertical half of the print and occupying most of the upper horizontal third of the print

An elongated oval printed in royal blue pigment and occupying the print’s lower right corner

The horizontally oriented, black rectangle is printed over the coral red inverted-L, so it appears to be in front of the L; this juxtaposition injects a spatial element into the composition, creating the illusion of foreground and background.

The black rectangle and blue oval appear to be printed with woodblocks, due to their evenly inked surfaces; by contrast, the gray rectangle and coral red L appear to be printed with paper-blocks, due to their unevenly inked, visually textured surfaces.

Written by the artist in pencil along the bottom edge of the paper, the print’s title reading "Wakai seidai" appears in the lower left corner; the title can be translated “Young Generation”. Onchi Kōshirō, the artist, signed this impression and noted the print’s date in pencil along the bottom edge of the paper, immediately to the right of the title; the signature and date read "K. Onzi - 51". The artist impressed his stamp reading "Onzi", in lower-case roman letters, in black ink within the image; the stamp appears along the right edge of the print, approximately one-third of the way up from the bottom.

Verification Level