Naoko Matsubara (Born 1937) Japanese/Canadian, Signed and Numbered Woodblock

Lot description

Naoko Matsubara (Born 1937) Japanese/Canadian, Signed and Numbered Woodblock. The print displays two figures in the mingei folk art style, playing instruments. Faded red square seal bottom right. Signed, dated 1960, numbered 12/25, and titled in pencil bottom left: "Two Musicians." Overall Size: 32 x 43 1/4 in. Sight Size: 24 1/4 x 36 in. Naoko Matsubara was born in Japan in 1937 and graduated from Kyoto University of Applied Arts in 1960 before immigrating to the United States and then Canada, obtaining an MFA at Carnegie Mellon University on a Fulbright grant. She traveled extensively and taught at the Pratt Institute, with her prints and graphic work heavily influenced by the mingei folk art tradition taught to her by Munakata Shiko and her background as a Shinto priest’s daughter. Her unique woodblock prints, which frequently feature shrines, temples, and natural landscapes, are part of the permanent collections of major museums worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the British Museum, the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian Institute. Her most recent solo exhibition was in 2024 at the Art Gallery of Ontario, showcasing her monumental 2-meter-long single-sheet print Tagasode (2014), and today she is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and lives and works in Oakville, Canada.