HAGIWARA Hideo
Born: 1913 in Yamanashi Prefecture
Medium: Woodblock

One of the senior printmakers in Japan, Mr. Hagiwara has been a long time resident of the capital city and graduated from the National University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo in 1958.

Hagiwara's themes range from mystical nonrepresentational pieces, to whimsical circus figures. He has done a large series of woodblock prints depicting Mt. Fuji, and other series have been devoted to Grecian Myth (Poseidon, Midas, etc), female figures, angels and Aesop's Fables.

In each the artist captures our imagination with subtle overprinting, delicate linework, bold color useage, and an imaginative approach to composition. We may find figures briskly juxtaposed with assorted objects, words of text scrawled in mirror writing block letters, or abstract designs with mysteriously colored blobs and organic forms.

Unlike most contemporary Japanese printmakers, Mr. Hagiwara has been willing to explore a variety of themes in his work, and constantly surprises viewers with new subjects. But in each the hand of a true master is displayed.

Selected Collections:
Prefectural Museum of Hiroshima
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Honolulu Academy of Arts
Amsterdam Museum of Art
Art Institute of Chicago
Vienna Museum of Modern Art, Austria
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Prefectural Museum of Yamanashi
Cincinnati Art Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo
Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art
Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura
Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo

Selected Exhibitions:
Lugano International Print Biennial, grand prize 1962
Ljubljana International Print Biennial, prize winner 1963
Tokyo International Print biennial, prize winner 1966
Nobel Prize Committee gold medal for five works based on themes from novels byKAWABATA Yasunari, 1989
Woodblock Biennial Czechoslovakia, prize winner 1992