Kaoru Kawano - 椿(B) (Camellia (B))

A fabulous print by Kaoru Kawano depicting a silhouette of a child wrapped patterned with bold red camellia blossoms. Additional flowers sit at the figure’s feet, and Kawano beautifully contrasts the child’s downward gaze and the scattered camellias against the printed pattern of the natural grain of the woodblock. A lovely, gentle scene. 🌺 🌺

• Year & Edition: c.1950s-60s. Open edition. Artist’s red hanko, black seal verso.
• Medium: Woodblock.
• Dimensions: Paper approx. H 42.00 cm × W 29.00 cm. Image approx. H 37.25 cm × W 23.50 cm (Oban).
• Condition: Lovely. Crisp image, paper intact. Slight toning with age, tape residue verso.
• Notes: 椿 (tsubaki), the Japanese camellia, blooms from winter into spring and is commonly associated with seasonal renewal in Japanese decorative arts.

About the Artist

河野薫 Kaoru Kawano (1916-1965) was a postwar printmaker from Otaru, Hokkaido, known for his charming stylised child figures, northern birds, owls, and the distinctive use of woodgrain in his prints. Trained under Narita Gyokusen and later at the Kawabata Art School in Tokyo, he resumed his career after wartime service and prisoner internment in Siberia, exhibiting with the Japan Print Association (日本版画協会) and Kokugakai (国画会), and receiving the Kokuga Prize in 1955. Through Yoseido Gallery his work was shown widely in international print exhibitions, and both his pencil-signed and seal-stamped editions are increasingly collected today. [ ← View All Works by Kaoru Kawano]