Kaoru Kawano - 笛 (Flute)

A fabulous print by Kaoru Kawano - 笛 (Flute) showing a child holding a long flute to their mouth. The figure is printed in pale tones with visible woodgrain, set against a flat dark background. Two tall yellow posts/cacti stand on either side of the child, each printed with a vertical grain pattern. A lovely composition. 🎶

• Year & Edition: c.1950s-60s. Open edition. Artist’s red hanko, black seal verso.
  
• Medium: Woodblock.
  
• Dimensions: Paper approx. H 42.25 cm × W 28.50 cm. Image H 37.75 cm × W 23.50 cm.
  
• Condition: Good. Crisp paper and unblemished image. Slight fox spots to margin.
  
• Notes: 笛 (fue) means “flute.” Japan’s Gagaku - Japanese court music - includes the 笙 (shō), a mouth organ made from bundled pipes resembling panpipes; here Kawano shows a small pan-flute held simply across the child’s mouth.

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]