“Carpenter Bee”

Kumagai Morikazu

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Artist Name: Kumagai Morikazu
Title: “Carpenter Bee”
Dimensions: 23.0×15.7 cm
Medium: Screen printing on paper
Year: 1973-1974
Description: Morikazu Kumagai (1880 [Meiji 13] – 1977 [Shōwa 52])
He was born in Tsukechi, Gifu, as the seventh son of Magorokurō Kumagai, the first mayor of Gifu City.

In 1900 (Meiji 33), he entered the Tokyo Fine Arts School (now Tokyo University of the Arts), where he studied under Kuroda Seiki and Fujishima Takeji.

Kumagai began to develop what is now known as the “Kumagai style” in his sixties. His method involved producing numerous sketches of his subject, then creating a preparatory drawing that retained only the most essential lines. This drawing was traced and transferred onto a wooden panel, which served as the support for the final work.

From around 1935, he experimented with transfer techniques in his painting process. By around 1945, he refined this method using tracing paper and carbon paper, enabling him to construct highly meticulous and carefully planned compositions, ultimately bringing Kumagai’s artistic vision to completion.

As a result, there is nothing in Kumagai’s works that was added or altered during the process of painting. Each subject was faithfully rendered, expressed through the utmost reduction of line and color.