Clifton Karhu

Shrine, wood block print, Japan, yellow, brown, black, graphic, Karhu

1976

Shoji, woodblock print by Clifton Karhu, round, framed, brown, white, yellow framed woodblock print hand signed and numbered by the artist

Satsuki by Ouchi Makato Japanese etching Kabuki geometric orange white black Some minor issues with the flatness of the paper. Images shown. Ouchi Makoto...

A beautiful, circular-shaped woodblock print by American master printmaker Clifton Karhu who lived in Japan for over 50 years. Karhu's work gained great esteem not only in Japan but ...

This beautiful, limited edition original color woodblock is by the famous Showa Shin Hanga woodblock master Clifton Karhu (1927-2007). It bears the original frame and has a label on the back from a Tokyo gallery. The work is a beautiful impression with rich color. It and the frame are in excellent condition. The print measures 16 x 16 inches. The frame is 23 ½ x 23 ½ inches. It is numbered lower left as AP5 - Artist Proof #5 and is pencil signed and dated ‘74 lower right. An American of Finnish descent, Clifton Karhu was born in Minnesota in 1927. Raised together with his twin brother Raymond, Karhu was the son of painters Arne and Anna Karhu. After his graduation in 1946 he served in the military at an American Navy base in Japan. Returning to America following his military service in 1950, Karhu enrolled at the Minneapolis School of Art but quit two years later to pursue missionary work as a Lutheran minister. Karhu left the missionary work in 1958 and chose to move his new family to Gifu City, a small provincial town northwest of Kyoto, Japan where he set about returning to his art. Karhu soon found local success in 1961; obtaining first prize at the Chubu Taiheijo Bijutsu Kyokai Ten (The Middle Pacific Art Group Exhibition) and fixing his first single, professional exhibition at the Shin Gifu Gallery. In hopes of providing their three children with an international education, Karhu settled in Kyoto in 1963. The next few years proved heavily influential in Karhu’s work. Arguably forming the foundation for all his future success, Karhu found tutelage under recognized woodblock artist and gallery owner Tetsuo Yamada and colour theorist Stanton Macdonald-Wright. Responsible for shifting Karhu’s artistic doubts, Karhu proceeded to fulfill a very successful career in woodblock printing - carving his own works largely by himself. Clifton Karhu passed away in 2007 after an illustrious career that saw him viewed and celebrated as a local Kyoto celebrity, as well as having exhibited widely in many countries around the world. His woodblock prints have been collected by many famous museums including the Tokyo Modern Art...