Fantasy in Red (2)

Between 1921 and 1929, Hagiwara Hideo lived in Korea and Manchuria, then under Japanese colonial rule, eventually returning to Japan where he graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Art in 1938. After World War II he concentrated on making sosaku hanga or "creative prints". These woodblock prints began with recognizable imagery but became increasingly abstracted. In them he often printed the reverse side of the paper first, using an uncut piece of plywood fully inked with water-based dark blues, grays, or black (as in this impression). While the paper lay on the inked wooden panel, he would apply enough pressure to bring the colors to the surface of the sheet, creating a soft, glowing patina. This process brings to mind the reverse painting technique applied to the faces of deities in traditional Japanese Buddhist paintings, or in ancestral portraits in pre-modern Korean studio practice.

The Fantasy series was produced in a number of colors and expresses an overall interest of Hagiwara’s in transcendent, mythic themes. His use of soft, muted colors and abstract shapes creates an ethereal world removed from the realities of an urbanized and fast-paced modernized Japan, spurred by the country’s post-World War II economic recovery.