Japanese Woodblock Print, 1989, pencil signed, titled and numbered 47/100 by Iwao Akiyama

SIZE IN INCHES: 12 x 23.5 inches

COMMENTS: Akiyama's calligraphy poem roughly translated: "(While) drinking sake alone, hear the wind blowing" or words to that effect.

IWAO AKIYAMA (1921-2014) was born in a small village in Oita prefecture. At the age of eight he received drawing lessons by a Buddhist monk, later graduating from the school of Taiheiyogakai in 1956. Trained in oil painting, the young artist turned to woodblock printmaking when he met Shiko Munakata. Akiyama studied with him from 1959 to 1965. The influence of his master on his style is evident.

The artist is famous for creating woodcut images of both animals and human figures, usually rendered in a somewhat whimsical and naive-seeming fashion. Another hallmark is the use of relatively coarse folk-papers which reveal bits of brown bark from the mulberry bush. Often, Akiyama evokes innocence and playfulness in his designs.

VG, with flaws as show