Sekino, Jun’ichiro, 1914-1988

Born in Aomori. From boyhood knew Munakata Shiko as a charismatic painter a few years his senior. Sekino made woodblock prints with friends while still in middle school. Studied etching in Aomori with Kon Junzo. Contributed to Chokokuto in 1932, Shin hanga in 1935. Exhibited with Nihon Hanga Kyokai from 1932. Moved to Tokyo in 1939 after winning a 1936 Teiten prize for an etching. Studied etching at Etching Institute of Nishida Takeo and oil painting and drawing at a private painting school. Studied woodblock with Onchi Koshiro and Maekawa Senpan for whom he worked from time to time as a printer. Became member of Nihon Hanga Kyokai in 1938 and Kokugakai in 1940. Contributed to every set of Ichimokushu. Represented in international competitions at Tokyo, Northwest, Ljubljana, and elsewhere. Won wide acclaim in the U.S. after World War II for moku-hanga. Traveled in U.S. in 1958 under auspices of Japan America Society; taught at Oregon State University in 1963. Taught at Kobe University in 1965. Awarded medal by Imperial Household Agency in 1981. Sekino was a prolific printmaker in styles ranging from detailed portraits in the late 1940s and early 1950s to semiabstract prints with greater emphasis on pattern and design after mid-1950s. Sekino’s portraits of some of Japan’s most famous early modern printmakers have earned him a reputation as a leading artist. Not at all limited to portraits, Sekino has made prints of cityscapes, grain fields, animals (such as the serene My Black Cat, in which the pet is cradled apprehensively in a male figure’s arms). He also created many floral designs. Among his late works are Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido, Collection of Aomori Folk Toys, Collection of Famous Japan Folk Toys, Old Capital, and Prints of the Narrow Road to the Deep North.** Taken in whole, or in part from: Blakemore, Frances. Who’s Who in Modern Japanese Prints. Weatherhill, Inc: New York. 1983. Merritt, Helen and Nanako Yamada. Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975. University of Hawaii Press: Honolulu. 1992.