Featured Artists' Biographies (K)

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Kneisel, Joseph Philip (California, 1911 - 1989)

View larger image and more information for Shiro Kasamatsu's woodcut, Evening Sky at Suwa Shrine, Nippori

Shiro Kasamatsu (Tokyo, 1898 - 1991): By 1920 a Renaissance in the art of the Japanese woodcut had taken place. Termed 'Shin Hanga' (New Prints), artists of this movement reestablished the importance of the Japanese woodcut, particularly in the areas of landscape compositions and figure studies. At the centre of Shin Hanga was the Tokyo publisher, Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962). It was through his support and efforts that the greatest Shin Hanga artists such as, Goyo, Shinsui, Hasui, Koitsu and Shiro Kasamatsu gained both national and international recognition.

Shiro Kasamatsu began his art studies at a young age. In his thirteenth year he became a student of Kaburagi Kiyokata, a well known painter of bijin-ga figure studies. He began exhibiting his own paintings at several national exhibitions, including the government sponsored 'Bunten'. In 1919, Watanabe approached Kasamatsu about designing woodcut prints. Kasamatsu's first woodcut was created that year.

View more images, information and other original works of art by the Japanese artist, Keisuke Serizawa.

Keisuke Serizawa (Shizuoka, Japan, 1895 - 1984): A world famous designer, painter, illustrator, dyer and book and print maker, Serizawa Keisuke attracted international attention as early as 1925 for his distinctive Kataezome style, combining Japanese dyeing techniques with those of Okinawan bingata. This he applied with equal success to kimono and fabric patterns, wall hangings, paintings, fans and original prints. Above all, Serizawa became a leading artist of 'Mingei' -- which in Japanese generally means folk art. Children of the Snow is a fine example of Serizawa's Mingei.

The art of Serizawa Keisuke has been exhibited world wide. In the United States his art has been exhibited thus far in two major one man exhibitions. The first took place in 1979 at the Mingei International Museum in San Diego and was entitled, "Serizawa Keisuke : A Living National Treasure of Japan". More recently, in 1998, the Riverside Municipal Museum, Riverside, California, launched a major retrospective entitled, "The Art of Serizawa Keisuke ".

View more images, information and other original works of art by the American artist, Frank Kleinholz.

Frank Kleinholz (Brooklyn, New York, 1901 - Miami, Florida, 1987): Born into a poor family, much of Frank Kleinholz's youth was spent selling newspapers and running errands for local businesses. At age 23 he graduated from Fordham Law School and was admitted to the bar. Kleinholz first turned to art after the age of thirty and studied painting under Sol Wilson and print making under Yasuo Kuniyoshi. His first group exhibition took place in 1941 at the Carnegie Institute and his first solo exhibition took place at the Associated American Artists, New York, in 1942. For the following forty years he gained a large national reputation with showings at the Brooklyn Museum, the Worcester Art Institute, the Chicago Art Institute and the prestigious National Academy of Design.

Today the art of Frank Kleinholz is included in the following collections: the University of Wyoming Art Museum, The Newark Museum, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami and the Smithsonian Institute, Washington.

View larger image and more information for Eduardo Kingman's original lithograph, Woman Grinding Corn

Eduardo Kingman (Loja, Ecuador, 1913 - 1998): One of Ecuador's greatest twentieth century artists, Eduardo Kingman first studied under Victor Mideros at the Escuela de Belles Artes, in Quito. Further studies took him to Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and finally to the San Francisco School of Fine Arts, California (1945-1946). Americans first became acquainted with Kingman's art in 1939, when he assisted Camilo Egas with the paintings and decorations for the Ecuadorian Pavilion at the New York World's Fair.

For a period of twenty years, Eduardo Kingman held the post of principal professor at Quito's, Escuela de Belles Artes as well as Director of the Museo de Arte Colonial de Quito. In 1940, Kingman founded the Caspicara Gallery in Quito. At this time and later his original prints and paintings were exhibited internationally in such cities as Paris, Washington, San Francisco, Mexico City, Caracas and Bogata. Near the end of his career, Kingman was honoured with a one man exhibition of his art at the United Nations, New York.

View more images, information and other original works of art by the Japanese artist, Fumio Kitaoka.

Fumio Kitaoka (Tokyo, born, 1918): One of Japan's finest woodcut masters of the latter twentieth century, Fumio Kitaoka first studied printmaking techniques and drawing under Unichi Hiratsuka at the Tokyo Bijutsu Gakko. Graduating during the Second World War, Kitaoka first taught art in Tokyo and was then posted to a similar position in occupied Manchuria. At the end of the war, he returned to Tokyo and attended the evening classes of one of Japan's most influential woodcut artists of the time, Koshiro Onchi (1891-1955). Several years later, Fumio Kitaoka moved to Paris to study wood engraving techniques at the Ecole des Beaux Arts.

For years, the woodcut art of Fumio Kitaoka has been the subject of many exhibitions in Japan, America and Europe. Museums that list his woodcuts within their permanent collections include, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Art Institute of Chicago, the National Museum, Warsaw and the Japanese Museum of Israel. Fumio Kitaoka has been named an honorary member of the Japan Print association and has served as Director of the Japanese Artists Association.

View more images, information and other original works of art by Abdul Mati Klarwein.

Abdul Mati Klarwein (Hamburg, Germany, 1932 - Majorca, Spain, 2002): One of the most remarkable Surrealist artists of the twentieth century, Mati Klarwein never worked conventionally with galleries, exhibitions or with arts societies. In fact, from 1960 to 1980, he was more or less shunned by the conventional art establishment. This did not prevent Klarwein from accepting commissions for paintings from such noteworthy individuals as Brigitte Bardot, Leonard Bernstein, Jackie Kennedy, Richard Gere and Michael Douglas, nor did it prevent fellow artists such as Andy Warhol proclaiming that Klarwein "was his favourite painter".

In the early 1950's Mati Klarwein moved to Paris to study art under Fernand Leger. Leger's style, however, made little upon him and he began looking elsewhere for sources of inspiration, most notably in the paintings of Flemish and Italian masters and in the contemporary paintings and prints of Salvador Dali. During the following years, Klarwein traveled and worked throughout the world, including visits to Tibet, India, Bali, North Africa, Turkey, Cuba and the United States.

The year 1964 marked a pivotal point in Klarwein's career. In New York, he was at work on a series of paintings to adorn the walls of the Aleph Sanctuary. One painting entitled Crucifixion caused an immediate tempest of controversy. Combining Christ's Crucifixion with a Bosch-like setting of 'earthly delights', Klarwein faced charges of blasphemy and was actually attacked by an axe wielding fundamentalist.

In recent years the art establishment has caught up with the rest of the world and recognized the unique genius of Klarwein's art. In 1996 the Royal Museum of Stockholm hosted a large retrospective of the artist's paintings and prints.

View more images, information and other original woodcuts by the Japanese artist, Kunisada.

Kunisada I, Utagawa 'Toyokuni III' (Japan, 1786 - 1864): Perhaps the best known printmaking artist of his day, Kunisada apprenticed under Toyokuni. Kunisada's earliest woodcuts date from 1809 and he quickly established himself as a master of figure and character studies. Because of his chronological changes of signatures, Kunisada's woodcuts are not difficult to date: his first works were signed, 'Ichiyusai Kunisada', and bear the definite influence of his master. About 1813, he began inscribing his woodcuts, 'Gototei Kunisada', and from 1827, he adopted the 'go' or 'ga' suffix. Finally, in 1844, he took his deceased master's name -- a not uncommon practice in Japanese art -- and signed his works, 'Toyokuni'.

When the Western world first discovered the artistic value of the Japanese woodcut (c. 1865) it was the designs of Kunisada which primarily attracted the greatest attention. His superb use of line, perspective and colour influenced an entire legion of European artists. Toulouse-Lautrec, Whistler, Van Gogh, Vuillard, Bonnard and many others all owed a considerable deal to the splendid creations of this Japanese master of the woodcut.

View more images, information and other original woodcuts by the Japanese artist, Kunisada II.

Kunisada II, Utagawa (Japan, 1823 - 1880): The most dominant and influential movement of nineteenth century Japanese woodcut art was the Utagawa School. As early as 1800, Toyokuni had come to represent the father of this school. His style of art was handed down to his greatest students, Kuniyoshi and Kunisada I, Utagawa 'Toyokuni III' (Japan, 1786 - 1864). They in turn trained such fine artists as Kunisada II and Kunichika. Throughout the century, Utagawa School artists were particularly adept at actor portrayals, genre depictions and scenes from mythology and folklore.

Like Kunisada, Kunisada II was a master of colour and form. Bold lines and gestures typically come to the fore in the art of both masters. When the Western world first discovered the artistic value of the Japanese woodcut (c. 1865), it was the designs of Kunisada and Kunisada II which attracted the greatest attention. Their radical use of line and perspective influenced an entire generation of European artists. Toulouse-Lautrec, Whistler, Vuillard, Bonnard and many others owed a considerable deal to the splendid art of these Japanese masters.

View more images, information and other original woodcuts by the Japanese artist, Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi.

Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi (1798 - 1861): Ichiyasai Kuniyoshi was a master of many facets but in the fields of legend and history he reigns supreme. His is the work that forms the yardstick against which all others are judged." * (Richard Illing, The Art of Japanese Prints, Gallery Books, New York, 1983, pp. 120-122).

A student of Toyokuni, Kuniyoshi in his art has always seemed more akin to Western thought and style than any other Golden Age Japanese master. He was, after all, the first to attempt consolidating Western temperament and themes into his art, usually with remarkable success.

Kuniyoshi's finest art was created from the 1830's and into the later years of the 1850's. After that date continuing ill health left its mark. His most famous works draw from legend and history which gave him the imaginative vehicle to portray a vast spectrum of human emotions. His influence on the course of the Japanese woodcut was enormous and was directly passed on in the Meji era to his best student, Yoshitoshi.