舩坂芳助

Funasaka Yoshisuke (Japanese: 舩坂芳助, born 1939) is a Japanese abstract art printmaker known for his geometric compositions in woodblock printing and silkscreen. Born in Gifu Prefecture, he is the son of the watercolor painter Funasaka Masayoshi.^[1:1] A member of the Japan Print Association (Nihon Hanga Kyōkai) and a prolific artist who has produced over one thousand prints, Funasaka is recognized for his recurring use of the lemon motif and for what Lawrence Smith described as a "quiet and dignified abstraction."^[2:1] His works are held by major institutions worldwide, including the British Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian Institution.^[3:1]

Early life and education

Funasaka was born in 1939 in Gifu Prefecture, the son of the watercolor painter Funasaka Masayoshi.^[1:1] He graduated in 1962 from the Oil Painting Department of Tama Art University (then Tama College of Fine Arts) in Tokyo.^[3:2] While a student, he worked part-time at a linoleum supplier, where he practiced carving designs to make linocut prints.^[3:2] Although formally trained in oil painting, he is largely self-taught as a printmaker and began making woodblock prints around 1966.^[1:1][3:3]

Career

Funasaka held his first solo exhibition in 1967 and soon began exhibiting internationally.^[3:4] In 1970, he won a prize at the Tokyo International Print Biennale.^[3:4] He went on to exhibit at international print biennales in Bradford, Ljubljana, Pistoia, Grenchen, and Frechen, among other cities.^[1:2] At the Bradford International Print Biennale alone he appeared five times between 1970 and 1979.^[2:2]

In 1976, Funasaka received a fellowship from the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō) Overseas Art Study Fellowship, which enabled him to study in the United Kingdom and the United States during 1976–1977.^[4:1][1:2] He has taught printmaking since 1974, beginning at the Asahi Culture Center, and has been instrumental in bringing foreign artists to Japan to study traditional Japanese printmaking techniques.^[3:5] In 1992, he returned to Tama Art University as a visiting lecturer in woodblock printing.^[5]

Sources differ on when Funasaka joined the Japan Print Association: Merritt and Yamada record his membership from 1969,^[1:2] while some gallery sources give 1960.^[3:4] He is also a member of the Shun'yōkai.^[1:2] Since 1979 he has exhibited regularly with the College Women's Association of Japan (CWAJ) print show in Tokyo and was selected for their touring exhibition in 1984.^[2:2]

Artistic practice

Funasaka's earliest prints were made from linoleum blocks. He later progressed to traditional Japanese woodblock printing and silkscreen, often combining the two techniques in a single work, and eventually adopted complicated mixed-media approaches.^[2:3] In the late 1970s, he also produced works that were partly paper collage and partly painted.^[2:3] He self-carves and self-prints his work, placing him within the sōsaku-hanga (creative print) tradition.

His prints are characterized by geometric abstraction and the recurring exploration of a small number of motifs through variations in color, design, composition, and texture. The most prominent of these is the lemon, which appeared in his work from 1957 until the mid-1970s — in groups, singly, as the outline of a breast, or as an element in abstract compositions.^[6:1][1:3] Writing in 1975, Frances Blakemore quoted the artist on the motif: "I like the taste, I like the smell, I like the color — it represents freshness."^[6:2] Blakemore judged that across all his technical experiments, Funasaka's prints maintained "above all, that admirable quality — freshness."^[6:3]

The dates given for the start of the lemon motif vary slightly across sources. Merritt and Yamada date it to 1957,^[1:3] while Blakemore, writing in 1975, places it at 1960.^[6:1] The earlier date may refer to the motif's first appearance, and the later to when it became a consistent feature of his output.

After largely abandoning the lemon in the mid-1970s, Funasaka turned to other motifs, including the "hole" — a perforation technique he discovered accidentally when a lit cigarette burned through a print.^[2:4] He combined small brightly colored shapes, printed with woodblocks, onto large areas of silkscreened color.^[1:3] These recurring motifs earned him the nicknames "the Lemon Man" and "the Hole Man."^[3:6]

Lawrence Smith, writing for the British Museum, described Funasaka as "a prolific printmaker who has experimented technically with a wide range of effects but whose works maintain a quiet and dignified abstraction."^[2:1] In a catalog entry for Funasaka's Work At 26 (1969), Smith noted that the artist's output "has always been notable for its cool elegance of form."^[2:4] Almost all of Funasaka's prints bear no title, only a serial number.^[2:4]

Funasaka has produced over one thousand prints during his career.^[5:1] His editions typically range from 30 to 100 copies, each signed "Y. Funasaka" and numbered.^[5:1] Major series include My Space and My Dimension and One Hundred Views of Tokyo: Message to the 21st Century (東京百景 21世紀へのメッセージ, 1989–99).^[5]

Collections

Funasaka's work is held by numerous museums worldwide, including the Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art, the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art, the British Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian Institution (Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery), the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Library of Congress, the Cincinnati Art Museum, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.^[3:1][5]

Exhibitions

In 2010, the Fukuoka Art Museum hosted Ma The Space Enlightened — Yoshisuke Funasaka and Katsu Murakami, a major exhibition highlighting Funasaka's drawings.^[3:7] In June 2025, the Museum of Asian Art at Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur held the solo exhibition Intipati as part of the Asian Master Series, celebrating Funasaka's blending of traditional woodblock and silkscreen techniques.^[7:1]