Kaoru Kawano - 絵島 (Dancing Figure (Ejima)

A fabulous print by Kaoru Kawano depicting 絵島 (Ejima), a dancing figure dressed in a vivid red kimono and a black obi patterned with soft gold motifs. The figure is shown holding a folded fan close to her body, with a yellow hairpin securing her dark, cropped hair. The sweeping curve of the kimono leads the eye down the composition, set against a dark background of Kawano's signature printed pattern of the woodblock’s natural grain. 🎎

• Year & Edition: c.1950s-60s. Open edition. Artist’s red hanko, black seal verso.
  
• Medium: Woodblock.
  
• Dimensions: Paper approx. H 42.50 cm × W 29.00 cm. Image H 38.00 cm × W 23.50 cm.
  
• Condition: Good. Unblemished. Paper crisp & intact; foxing spotting to margin. 
  
• Notes: 絵島 (Ejima) is a name associated with Edo-period narratives and stage adaptations, where figures are often shown in distinctive dress and formal poses.

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]