The Pioneer Copperplate Printmaking; Komai Tetsuro

Komai Tetsuro (駒井哲郎）1920-1976
Japan is known as the land of woodblock printing or Ukiyo-e as it is known in Japan. It flourished between the 17th and 19th century but continues in contemporary Japanese printings even to this day. This time we will have a look at one of the postwar printmakers, Komai Tetsuro, who was one of the great master printers along with the likes of Munaka ta Shiko, Ikeda Matsuo and Hasegawa Kiyoshi.
Before the Second World War copperplate printing was not common in Japan. Woodblock printmaking was so well established that other techniques had not been widely adopted. It was Komai Tetsuro who pioneered copperplate printmaking in Japan.
Komai first dreamed of becoming a copperplate print artist when he was 14. When he saw Whistler, Munch on a magazine, he was thundered. He went on to fulfill this dream and won several international awards for his artwork. Later he taught young artists at universities in Japan and some of his students went on to become renowned artists in their own right.
So why did Komai choose copperplate printing rather than much more common media such as watercolour or oil painting? He said the indirectness of printmaking fascinated him as a child. Rather than painting directly onto the canvas, in printmaking you engrave and etch the metal plate and use it to print the finished work. But even though every print comes from the same plate, no two prints are the same. Each one is the result of the chance interactions of the ink on the copperplate. This fascinated Komai Tetsuro as a child.
Komai Tetsuro had his own unique style that mixed East with West, tradition with modern. However, he is not so well-known outside of Japan and I can see room for him and his work to be more highly appraised in the future.
Komai Tetsuro was born into a wealthy family in Nihon-bashi Bridge Tokyo. From nursery school to high school he attended very prestigious Keio university affiliated schools.
He moved to the Tokyo Fine Arts School for his higher education in 1939. He chose to specialise in oil painting but he was interested in comprehensive art.
In 1947 He became a member of “Ichiboku kai ( 一木会)”
In 1948 He joined the Nippon Printing association.
In 1951 He won the prize both at Sao Paulo and at the second international Print Exhibition in Lugano Switzerland.
In 1959 He started teaching at art schools.
In 1972 He became the head professour of printmaking at Tokyo Fine Arts school.
In 1976 He passed away at 56.
ms to me that most works have come from nothing related to nature or daily life, looking back at the intaglio prints. I have always tried to fix on the copper plate something I am concerned about or that I hope to exist there.
My haughty ambition is to create something totally new, but in accordance with tradition , seems unchanged even now.
I encouraged myself by enjoying excellent literary work, poems, music and a number of art works.
Besides my free drawings when I was young, I wonder how I could explain the fact that I started intaglio printing to enter the art world without having to paint any pictures. The opportunity to start intaglio prints came by coincidence. I think of prints as a category of art totally different from pictures. The reason I started intaglio prints from the beginning of my career , instead of oil paining or other pictures, came from internal urges.

Nippon Art channel : Collaborated with NAGAI Art Gallery

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