Woodblock Prints by
Yowsaku Sekino
Copyright
© Atelier Sekino
Sakura
52cm x 82cm, 2015

Honor: HIM Empress Michiko purchased the large woodblock print with gold leaf shown above for the Imperial Palace in 2015 when she attended the opening reception of the 60th CWAJ Print Show held at the Tokyo American Club. It was the empress' second visit to the annual fundraising event by the College Women's Association of Japan.

Why the site is in English: The site's webmaster is Sekino's brother, Junpei Sekino, who lives in Portland, Oregon, as a retired mathematics professor. He constructed the website using the English HTML coding in April of 2018.


Tokyo Night
85cm x 50cm, 2006
Cathedral
85cm x 50cm, 2005


Sunflowers
52cm x 82cm, 2010
Murouji Temple
85cm x 50cm, 1998


Brief Biography: Yowsaku Sekino was born in Tokyo as Jun-ichiro and Katsuko Sekino's second son in 1944 and graduated from Chuo University's School of Science and Technology in 1968. He worked as a chemist at SMC Corporation but later made a career switch by opening a European-style printmaking workshop. As the owner-technician of the workshop equipped with all the necessary machinery, he assisted various artists to produce their lithographs, etchings, engravings, drypoints and woodblock prints. Cartoonist Suiho Tagawa had a lasting interest in etching and visited the workshop regularly.

Sekino initially learned all of the printmaking techniques from his father, Jun-ichiro Sekino, and then polished them by a series of his own experiments. In the 1980s, he decided to become an artist himself specialized in color woodblock printmaking, joined Shun'yo-Kai, and won several awards starting with "Kenkyu -sho (research award)" at the artists association with a hundred years of history. Since 2007, Nihonbashi Takashimaya's prestigious Bijutsu Garou (art gallery) has shown his woodblock prints every year through his one-man show or a show by a small group of artists comprising him and his peers.

Sekino passed "Koki" in 2014 to become one of the "rare survivors" of age seventy but is still active in producing new art pieces, planning/opening his shows and publicly demonstrating his techniques of woodblock printmaking in various cities of Japan. His unique style reflecting his artistic sensitivity and scientific research and precision is evident in the prints displayed here.

Peonies
52cm x 82cm, 2012
Morning Glow
85cm x 50cm, 2003


Plum Blossoms
52cm x 82cm, 2018
Tokyo Govt Hall
85cm x 50cm, 1994


Cosmos I
52cm x 82cm, 2013
Night Scape
85cm x 50cm, 2004


Hills
85cm x 50cm, 2007
Tomorrow
30.5cm x 41cm, 2016


The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, has three of Sekino's prints including "Marsh" below in its permanent collection.

Fuji Dawn
30cm x 21cm, 2015
Marsh
49cm x 65cm, 1991
Forest Cat
22.5cm x 72cm, 2006


Eiheiji Temple
85cm x 50cm, 1997
Amakusa Sakitsu
45cm x 72cm, 2008


Cosmos II
30cm x 21cm, 2016
Daffodils and Pansies
30cm x 21cm, 2012
Poppies
30cm x 21cm, 2013


Irises
52cm x 82cm, 2010
Cyclamen
30cm x 21cm, 2016


Links

Jun-ichiro Sekino's Woodblock Prints shows woodblock prints by Sekino's father, teacher, and mentor, Jun-ichiro Sekino.
Atelier Sekino (Facebook Page) which was constructed and is maintained by Sekino's daughter, Junko, shows up-to-date information on various events such as the exhibits of the artwork by Sekino's father-son duo held at various locations in Japan.
Sekino's Fractal Gallery shows computer art by Sekino's elder brother, Junpei Sekino, who is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Willamette University and lives in Portland, Oregon.