Watanabe, Sadao

THE GOOD SAMARITAN [Original Kappazuri Stencil Print]

1976. Novelty. Hand colored kappazuri dyed stencil print on washi paper. Signed in pencil by 12 x 16' on handmade washi paper dyed deep burgundy and painted in white, blue, green and yellow with black stenciling. Depicts the arrival of the good Samaritan at the inn, wounded man seated on his donkey, two onlookers and a bird watching from the inn as the good samaritan touches the wounded man's forehead in an intimate and compassionate gesture. Born and raised in Tokyo, Sadao Watanabe was orphaned at age 10, adopted by a neighboring couple, and was baptized as a Christian at 17. After quitting school to work full time in a dyer's shop, he became apprentice of Serizawa Keisuke, from whom he learned the traditional katazome stencil dyeing technique. He soon became active in the 'mingei' movement, devoted to recovering traditional Japanese folk art techniques. Watanabe was bed-ridden for two years with tuberculosis and believed he experienced healing in answer to his prayers. As an expression of gratitude for this divine mercy, Watanabe vowed to devote his artistic abilities exclusively to illustrating stories from the Scriptures. A special emphasis were the stories of healing in the Gospels. Watanabe's artistic process was intensely laborious, partnering with his wife in the production of all materials in the process, from paper to paste to dye. Beginning with a paper-cut stencil outline, layers of color would be painted by hand with paste protecting the negative then washed off and reapplied for each subsequent color. As Sandy Kita explains, 'each print in a run by Watanabe is 'unique,' differing slightly from every other, because the artist painted in the colors by hand and neither sought to nor could completely control the permeation of the black into the paper ... Watanabe's stencil prints are examples of what are called 'multiple originals.'' (*Heeding the Voice of Heaven: Sadao Watanabe's Biblical Stencil Prints* p. 13). FINE. Item #508215

Price: $650.00