"The Last Supper" Original Print by Sadao Watanabe

1985

Print 95/100

Color Stencil on Momigami Paper

1993

Framed Dimensions:  16 x 13.25 inches

Condition:  Excellent

About the Artist:

Sadao's art prints look like a combination of modern Western art, Japanese folk art and old Buddhist painting. And this is what they actually are. Watanabe had learned over many years as an apprentice the technique of traditional stencil dying as used for kimonos in Okinawa, called katazome.

As a young man, Sadao studied under Serizawa Keisuke (1895-1984) and under Yanagi Soetsu (1891-1961). Yanagi Soetsu was a leading member of the Japanese folk art movement, founded by Yamamoto Kanae in the late 1920s and 1930s. The Japanese folk art movement had been influenced by the political changes in Russia and the theory of socialism. It was looked at suspiciously by official Japanese authorities and never gained any broad public momentum. But it has influenced modern Japanese art considerably.

Watanabe had learned from Serizawa Keisuke the old, traditional technique of Japanese stencil printing, called kappazuri. This method was originally limited to cloth dyeing. Serizawa Keisuke had adapted it to be used with rice paper to produce art prints.

Watanabe imaginatively creates variations on traditional iconography and design in combination with the stylized forms of folk art to interpret Bible stories.  He developed his very own style that can be recognized immediately.