Oda Kazuma

1881-1956

Willow Bridge in Snow
(Yanagibashi no yuki)

with artist's hiragana seal at lower left, Kazuma, probably self-carved and self-printed, n.d., ca. 1924

aiban yoko-e 8 3/8 by 12 1/8 in., 21.4 by 30.8 cm

Many artists of the first half of the 20th century drifted back and forth between the two poles of sosaku hanga and shin hanga. Oda Kazuma was an artist who was able to produce notable works by both means; that is, with a publisher or independently. Born in Tokyo, he studied Western-style painting with Kawamura Kiyoo (1899-1934) and lithography with Kaneko Masajiro. He was a contributor to Hosun ca. 1909-11, an art magazine co-founded by Ishii Hakutei (1882-1958); a founding member (and only lithographer) of Nihon Sosaku-Hanga Kyokai (Creative Print Society) in 1918; Yofu Hangakai (Western Style Print Society) in 1930; and Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Japan Print Association) in 1931. And yet, with all his sosaku hanga associations, in the 1920s he designed six shin hanga type woodblock prints published by Watanabe.

Reference:
Helen Merritt, Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints, 1990, p. 62
Helen Merritt, Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints, 1992, p. 114
Amanda T. Zehnder, Modern Japanese Prints: The Twentieth Century, Carnegie Museum of Art, 2009, p. 136

price: Sold