1982 Japanese Print 20/50 Abstract Still Life by Masanari Murai (1905-1999)(Hic)

Up for sale from a local estate in Honolulu Hawaii this 1982 Japanese limited edition 20/50 black and white silkscreen print that is titled 1982 and depicts what looks like a still life and was created by the well known artist Masanari Murai (1905-1999). The condition is described above for more information please check the photos. The shipping rate quoted is for tube shipping.

Measurements:

Sheet 30 inches x 22 ½ inches

More about the artist:

Print artist. Murai is a Western-style painter and has always thought of himself as such. He has also chosen to be known by the French spelling of his given name, Maçanari, a result of five years in France (1929-34). He was born in Ogaki, Gifu Prefecture, and was intended by his father to go to Germany to study medicine. Instead he joined the Bunka Gakuin (Culture Institute) in Tokyo and studied painting under Arishima Ikuma and Ishii Hakutei (q.v.). In later years he continued to teach there. During his French stay he travelled in Europe and had paintings accepted in the Salon des Indépendants. In 1935, after his return to Tokyo, he helped form the Jiyu Bijutsu Kyokai (Free Artists' Association) which favoured abstract painting. This was revived after the Pacific War, when abstract art had been strongly discouraged, but Maçanari soon left it to form the Modern Art Association. According to Petit, he took up prints in order to give cheaper presents of his work to his many pupils, but in fact his attitude to prints very much resembles that of twentieth-century French artists who have seen the medium as a profitable way of making their work more accessible. Maçanari has used woodblock, lithograph and silk screen, all of them being amenable to his very clear abstractions based mostly on the human face. He does the basic carving or other preparation but leaves the printing to others. Since around 1960 his work has become dominated by monochrome and his abstractions simpler and more monumental. He has also worked in stained glass and ceramic decoration.

Condition: 

The print was taken out of the frame and mounting, it is toned and foxed throughout, there is some minor paper surface loss the verso in places from the mounting tape, the print is on heavy paper and can be conserved