Japanese Woodblock Print, c.1940s, 1st/only edition, published by Shozaburo Watanabe with publisher's gift seal in lower right corner in the margin

SIZE IN INCHES: oban, 15.5 x 10.25 inches

MAEDA TOSHIRO (1904-1990) was born in Akashi City, Hyogo prefecture, and lived for most of his life in Osaka. He graduated from the Kobe Higher Business School in 1927 and first worked as a commercial artist. He was self-taught in making hanga, starting with linocuts and later producing woodcuts. Occasionally he produced works using both media. Before World War II, Maeda favored traditional subject matter and techniques, but post-war, he increasingly simplified his forms and introduced less representational works, perhaps influenced by Western abstraction in the arts. This was especially true of his linocuts. Also influencing his late non-representatonal style were bingata (lit., "red style") resist-dye textiles from Okinawa. Some of Maeda's late works are particularly admired for their nearly surrealistic style.

VG, no flaws of note