After closer inspection of the cache of loose calendar pages I referred to in my earlier post on this topic, I've decided that the katazome pages below probably belong to a single ensemble. They are apparently not by Keisuke Serizawa, the most prominent katazome calendar maker, who seems to have issued a different calendar in 1969. They could be by the less well-known artist named Takeshi Nishijima, who produced several calendars in the 1970s -- or they could be by another hand entirely.
To my eye, these are not quite up to the artistic level of the images in the 1959 set I posted (which George Baxley says is "reportedly" the work of Serizawa). They're a little flatter, with less subtlety and detail, but they're handsome nonetheless. My favorite is the August image, because I'm just a sucker for fish. But the July scene baffles me; just what is it exactly?
2 comments:
I just found a calendar from 1971 by Nishijima. The entire year is in really beautiful shape, and it has a title page (with the word for word description that you wrote about the artist for the year 1971) and paper portfolio cover. My dad meet him in Japan, when he was stationed their while in the Army. He is an artist as well. Anyway, they are absolutely gorgeous. I thought they were woodcuts. I am a printmaker in Baltimore if you want to contact me regarding the images. I can shoot a few digital images if you want them for your records.
lithoshop@gmail.com
Brian
I meant I have the year 1970.
b
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