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Naoko Matsubara
photography by Daniel Banko
Breath of Spring
1994,
image size 8 ½ x 9 inches, 22 x 23 cm.
Woodblock Print - Edition of 50
Tibetan Mountain
1986,
image size 23 1/8 x 18 7/8 inches, 58 x 48 cm.
Woodblock Print - Edition of 25
Tibetan Monastery
C
1994
Image: 20 x 14 ¾ inches and 50 x 37 1/2 cm.
Woodblock Print - Edition of 25
Sky Mandala
1997
image size 12 x 12 inches, 30 x 30 cm.
Woodblock Print - Edition of 25 |
The distinguished
woodcut print artist Naoko Matsubara was born on Shikoku Island into
an old Shinto family, and grew up in Kyoto, where her father was a
senior priest. She was educated at the Kyoto Academy of Fine Art (BFA,
1960); and was a Fulbright Scholar at what is now Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh (MFA, 1962). She was also a Special Invited
Student at the Royal College of Art in London (1962).
After travelling extensively in Europe and Asia, Naoko Matsubara
returned to Japan for two years, before being lured back to the
United States. There she worked as personal assistant to the late
Prof. Fritz Eichenberg, and also taught at the Pratt Institute of
Graphic Art in New York, as well as at the University of Rhode
Island. Subsequently she lived in Cambridge, Mass.
In 1972 Naoko Matsubara moved to Canada, and now lives in Oakville,
Ontario. She has continued to be extremely active as an artist:
locally, nationally and internationally. Since 1960 she has had some
75 solo exhibitions, in the USA, Canada, Japan, England, Ireland,
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland and Mexico. She has also
participated in numerous group exhibitions.
Public collections owning work by Naoko Matsubara include: Albertina,
Vienna; Art Institute of Chicago; British Museum; Carnegie
Institute; Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Cincinnati Art Museum;
Detroit Institute of Art; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University; Haifa
Museum, Israel; Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art; Royal Ontario
Museum; The White House, Washington DC; Tokyo National Museum of
Modern Art; Yale University Art Gallery.
Naoko Matsubara has published some 20 books and portfolios of her
work, including most recently Tibetan Sky (Calgary: Bayeux Arts
Publishers, 1997; Preface by the Dalai Lama); Tokonoma (Bath,
England: Old School Press, 1999); and Konjaku monogatari (Tokyo:
ALIS, 2002). Her work also includes a large mural and donor pillar
for the new YMCA building in Oakville, Ontario (2003); mixed-media
screens; and paintings. In 2005, the Royal Ontario Museum
commissioned two large works from Naoko Matsubara for the Museum's
Bloor Street window case. The artist generously donated a third
work, Emerald Summer (2006). The three works (each 195 cm. high by 95
cm. wide) will be rotated at regular intervals into the outside
window. This is the first commissioned artwork to be displayed on
the Museum’s Bloor Street Plaza.
Recent major exhibitions have been in Tokyo, Kyoto, Indiana, and
Toronto (Royal Ontario Museum). Further exhibitions are currently
being planned in Seattle and Tokyo; new books in process include In
Praise of Hands. She also continues to travel widely; is frequently
invited to speak about her work; and also publishes essays, in both
English and Japanese.
Naoko Matsubara’s work has been the subject of countless articles
and reviews; documentary films (including two from the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation); and several book-length publications:
notably Mokuhan: The Woodcuts of Munakata and Matsubara (text by
Joan Stanley-Baker; Victoria, BC: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria,
1976); Naoko Matsubara: Development of Artistic Style and Technique
(text by Barbara Woodworth; MFA thesis, Harvard University,
1985);.and Tree Spirit. The Woodcuts of Naoko Matsubara (text by
Arlene Gehmacher, Klaas Ruitenbeek and John M. Rosenfield; Toronto:
Royal Ontario Museum, 2003).
In May 2009, Ms. Matsubara received
an honourary doctorate in Fine Arts from Chatham University in
Pittsburgh.
LINKS
Naoko Matsubara's Biography
Purchase Matsubara Books
ART WORK
Naoko Matsubara
Watercolours
Naoko Matsubara
Woodblock Prints A - G
Naoko Matsubara
Woodblock Prints H - L
Naoko Matsubara
Woodblock Prints M - S
Naoko Matsubara
Woodblock Prints T - Z
EXHIBITIONS
"Tales of
Days Gone By" Exhibition
Tokonoma
Series Exhibition
Tropical Series
Exhibition |
