... one of the most important contemporary etching artist in Japan. Born in 1933 in Takatsuki City (Osaka Prefecture), he studied etching techniques under Foruno Yoshio and began to exhibit in 1966 with the Japanese Print Association, quickly gaining notoriety. His work has always dealt with the themes of old rural Japan, its wood and stone architecture, its landscape tradition and the stonework of Kyoto city. To the traditional wood-block printing, Tanada always preferred the watercolours etching and his works display a variety of systems of representation rearranged from the Western tradition of perspective in order to render a perfect image of the chosen scene. http://socks-studio.com/2014/11/23/tanaka-ryohei-deserted-etchings/ Tanaka has a special fondness for rural scenes and particularly the thatched roof farmhouses fast disappearing from the Japanese countryside. His careful and meticulous copperplate etchings exhibit a unique talent for creating, usually only with black and white, the different textures of straw, wood, tile and stone. In addition to exquisite detailing, the artist explores the various possibilities for subtlety afforded by the etching medium. Often, Tanaka will employ aquatint to achieve softly textured areas to accompany the fine lines of etching. Occasionally he will use color, most often as a subtle highlight, such as for persimmons hanging on a tree or a kite flying above a farmhouse. Other times the artist will print the image onto a softly colored paper which is then collaged onto the white backing paper, a process known as chine collè. Ryohei Tanaka richly deserves the international accolades received in an artistic career that began in 1963. The artist and his family live in the house where he was born and raised, near Kyoto. The subject matter of his prints is most often drawn from villages in that same Kansai area. (https://www.renbrown.com/store/index.php?p=biography&parent=78) undefined

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