SUMMER STREAM by Uchima, Ansei - 1962: 1962

Uchima, Ansei. Summer Stream 1962. A woodcut in eight colors: light and dark blue, light and dark green, light and dark grey, yellowish brown and bluish purple. 14 ½ inches x 19 inches on an untrimmed sheet 18 inches x 22 ½ inches. Signed in graphite, dated 1962, limited impression 200 of an edition of 200, titled in English and Japanese. Printed on Japanese paper with his distinct "UCHIMA" watermark. A fine impression.

Born in Stockton, California, Ansei Uchima (1921 – 2000) was active in the Creative Print Movement. In the words of James A. Michner: "He is a brilliant new creative artist in the international milieu. Born in the United States, educated in Japan, caught in the islands during World war II and now recently returned to the United States, Uchima combines the best of the American tradition with the great permanent values of the Japanese tradition … His prints are fluid and poetic evocations of nature, with strong overtones of psychological content. He is a master craftsman, but one who is not held in bounds by the confines of any technique … it seems to me that he is producing some of the fines prints being made today." IGAS Series 52, January 1963. Uchima's prints are found in the permanent collections of MOMA and the Metropolitan Museum in New York.