HOSSOYA Masayuki
Born: 1943, in Tokyo
Medium: Etching with Drypoint and Aquatint

“Playful,” “joyous” and “wistful”—all describe the etchings of Masayuki Hossoya. His subjects tend to be whimsical: tightrope walkers, a line of can-can dancers, contorted acrobats and circus animals frolicking. People are almost always rendered as stylized caricatures.

Masayuki Hossoya never intended being a printmaker. “Watching me doodling with a ball pen one day, an acquaintance mentioned my drawings would look good as etchings. Simple-minded and believing as I am, I went out and spent all my money to buy a press and some etching tools – all on that one comment. I’d had discouraging comments from a drawing instructor at night school, and no personal sense of having the smallest spark of artistic promise. Yet, after over 35
years, here I am still drawing.”