Japanese Woodblock Print, pencil numbered A.P. for an edition of 300 and signed in the bottom margin. Note: the embossed beige border is part of the design.

SIZE IN INCHES: 8.25 x 11.75 inches

SEIICHI HAYASHI (b.1945) is best know for his underground Japanese manga Red Colored Elegy from the early 1970s. More recently he produced a series of twelve portraits of young women called Modern Beauty. There's something incredibly magnetic about the images; while his subjects are engaged in everyday activities that range from unwinding over a glass of wine, to reading a book, their body language -- always slightly turned away from the viewer -- emanates a mysterious, effortless cool that lures the viewer in.

Hayashi attended a design school in Yoyogi, where he learned creating work reminiscent of International Typographic Style. He started his career in 1962 in animation by working for Toei Animation. He was involved in founding the animation studio Knack Productions in 1967. From 1967 on, he published manga in the alternative manga magazine Garo, which stayed his main outlet for publishing manga. His breakthrough came in 1970 with the manga Red Colored Elegy about the break-up of an unmarried couple. The singer Morio Agata named a popular song of his after the manga.

He became an important figure in the 1960s and 1970s avant-garde arts scene of Tokyo. He is cited with bringing pop art into manga. Apart from manga, he is also known as a designer and illustrator. He designed the packaging of the candy drops Lotte Koume, which came on the market in 1974. He is famous for depicting women in a style similar to Yumeji Takehisa. Film director Seijun Suzuki was a major inspiration for his work.

Fine, no flaws