Takao Hiwasaki is credited with reviving the wood engraving technique in Japan, where it was introduced by Britain in the Meiji period as a means of quickly reproducing works before falling out of favour with the arrival of photomechanical methods. He taught himself the medium in the 1960s after reading Onchi Koshiro’s book on Japanese printmaking, Nihon no gendai hanga, as a fine art technique rather than for reproduction, applying his Modernist, sometimes Surrealist styles to his compositions. This inspired the formation of the group Nomi no Kai (The Chisels) by admirers and followers of the technique, which helped launch Japan’s wood engraving renaissance in the 1970s.

*Please note this publication is secondhand and has some traces of previous ownership.