Kawarazaki Shodo: Tsubaki flowers (Camellia japonica)

Colour woodblock print, 40.5 x 27.5 cm, with artist's seal, published by Unsodo, second edition, 1960-70s.

Shodo Kawarazaki (1889-1973) was a painter and print designer from Kyoto. He was initially trained by Yamamoto Sekkei to become a professional fabric dyer. Shodo also studied painting under Shibara, thought it was his teacher Kishyo who helped cultivate Shodo's original style of expression. He became most famous for his flower prints, published in the mid-1950s by Unsodo, when there was a strong demand for handmade Japanese woodblock prints by the American occupation forces. They proved to be so popular that they were reprinted in their second editions. They are simple and traditional in style. First editions have the date stamped in Japanese in the left-hand margin, never signed but bear the artist's seal 'Shodo'.

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