The Japanese Stamp Drawing Number Three

This last drawing of a stamp rounds out a triptych on that theme. It started with the completion of a drawing with a Taiwanese stamp. I paired it with a Bulgarian stamp to make the drawings in to a diptych. The Japanese stamp from 1969 had been in folio ever since that date in childhood when my father found it on a shipping package and harvested it for his children’s stamp collecting activities. I had written earlier about why I had picked the stamp out for my collection, much to a muted snickering response from my brothers, as the Japanese woman in the stamp had no shirt on. But I saw something special in the stamp so kept it.

Doing some research in to the possible origins of the image, I came across some sites about commemorative stamps produced in Japan in the late 1960's and early 1970's. These featured the works of Japanese artists who had studied abroad in the early part of the twentieth century and learned western style figurative painting and drawing from the nude. Just as in China, Japan had no figurative tradition involving the nude figure, save for erotic art, and even the latter sported figures that were mostly clothed.

So when Japanese artists incorporated the nude or semi-nude figure in to their traditional wood block prints, it was a radical idea. Some of these also experimented with western perspective and foreshortening, as well as richly patterned backgrounds. In most of these, the nude was an aesthetic solitary figure, alone at her mirror or playing with a cat. I never did find the artist who created my stamp of the woman having her long hair combed, but did find a number of Japanese artists working in the 1930's who were making stunning wood block prints in art deco style. One artist, Kobayakawa Kiyoshi, created this lively woodcut print of a dancer in 1932. Smitten by the image, I incorporated this in to my design as well.

There is an amusing little detail in Kobayakawa Kiyoshi’s depiction of the Japanese woman dancing in western costume with high heels. Look carefully at the left foot and you will see that the shoe does not quite fit and her little toe is sticking out.

Links:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/87116574016809130/

http://www.hanga.com/bio.cfm?ID=41

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/arts/design/deco-japan-shaping-art-and-culture-at-japan-society.html

http://library.princeton.edu/news/marquand/2017-01-16/celebrating-japanese-%E2%80%9Ccreative-print%E2%80%9D-1924-1930

https://hyperallergic.com/336964/an-alluring-glimpse-into-japans-embrace-of-art-deco/