Views of Japan Today

Contemporary Japanese artist  Id Masao (ee-doh mah-sah-oh) works in the style of traditional woodblock printmakers. But the artist infuses the subject matter and techniques of the past with the innovations of printmaking today.

Born in 1945 in China, Masao grew up in Japan. He spent many hours playing in the hills outside his rural childhood home. After his family moved to Kyoto (kyoh-toh), a large Japanese city, Masao began his career making textiles. When he learned about woodblock printing, he immediately began studying the technique. Like his predecessors, he hoped to express the world’s natural beauty.

In the prints above, Masao depicts the four seasons. The vertical compositions emphasize the depth of space in each scene. A path leading from the foreground to the background pulls the viewer’s eye deep into the narrow space of each image.

Masao uses layers of color to create complex textures. He juxtaposes the organic shapes of the trees, flowers, and shadows with the geometric shapes of the architecture. The color scheme of each work emphasizes the season Masao represents.