Japanese Form (Tomoe)
1964
33 3/4 x 23 3/8 in. (85.7 x 59.4 cm)
Takagi Shiro
Japan
(Hirosaki, Japan, 1934 - 1998)
Object Type:
Print
Medium and Support:
Color woodcut
Credit Line:
Marion Stratton Gould Fund
Accession Number:
1966.38
Location: Not currently on view
From the beginning of his career, Takagi Shiro was interested in the print medium. In 1958, he left his studies at the Musashino College of Fine Arts in Tokyo because there was no print faculty, choosing instead to learn independently. Despite his interest in abstraction, however, his primary artistic identification remained Japanese.
With its characteristic abstracted forms in a red and ochre palette, Japanese Form (Tomoe) is representative of Takagi’s work before 1971. The word tomoe refers to a specifically Japanese abstract shape, a swirl that resembles a comma. Although its meaning is debated, the form itself is a common design element in Japanese family emblems.
[Label text, 2014]