Saru Gallery
       Japanese Prints & Japanese Paintings

Biography Ogasawara, Ken'yû (1925 - 1977)

Ogasawara Ken'yû (小笠原賢雄) is practically unknown outside Japan. In that country, however, he is known as one of the great masters of katazome hanga, stencil prints, in the tradition of Serizawa Keisuke and Watanabe Sadao. So far I have not been able to dig up a lot of biographical details, other than that a wide selection of his works was bequeathed to the Komagane Kogen Art Museum after his death. His work is characterized by his rich palette and the extremely careful way in which they have been printed.