Horse
Item
Title
Horse
Creator
Tadashi NAKAYAMA
Japanese, b. 1927
Japanese, b. 1927
Date
After 1965
Materials
Woodblock Print
Measurements
Plate: 6-1/16 x 4-1/8 in. (15.4 x 10.5 cm), sheet: 6-1/4 x 4-3/8 in. (15.9 x 11.1 cm)
Description
Tadashi Nakayama studied oil painting in college in Japan immediately after the war, but dropped out after two years. In the 1960s, he visited Turkey, India, Greece, and then England, where he taught woodblock printing at Bath University. He also spent time in Paris, where he saw Paolo Uccello’s paintings of horses in the Louvre. Nakayama combined these majestic horses with Japanese woodblock printing and folklore to create a series of horse prints. Nakayama’s imagery recalls the Japanese ema, which date back to the eighth century when horses were given to shrines to ensure good luck. People who lacked the money to donate a horse would leave a picture of a horse, with the word ema featuring the characters for ‘picture’ and ‘horse.’ Nakayama prints blend these traditions of Eastern and western art.
Source
Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, Transfer from The Pennsylvania State University Libraries Print Collection.
Identifier
2009.344
Rights
This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.