Tanaka Ryohei

Selected Works


A Quiet Day in Ohara 1991 107/150	An Entrance No. 1 1993 128/150

Chishaku-In 2002 119/150	Chomeiji-Temple 1995 57/150

Daytime at a Beach 2008 11/100	Gion-Nishijin 1994 90/150

Kawakubo No. 2 1991 106/150	Kitayama Sugi (Nakagawa) 2007 5/150

Koshihata No. 2 2008 19/100	Kyoto No. 9: Ishibe's Alley 1996 106/150

Kyoto No. 30: Ninnaji-Temple 2000 66/150	Kyoto No. 33: Tatsumibashi-Bridge 2002 82/150

Orange Tree 2008 43/100	Roofs of Kurama Road 1994 54/120

Sogabe Village 1989 119/150	Sogabe No. 2 1995 76/150

Spring Village No. 2 2005 18/100	Summer Day No. 6 1992 55/150

Temple Roof 1994 86/150	Washing Day 1994 81/150

Washing Day No. 3 2007 18/100

In 1963, when he was well beyond school age, Tanaka started his career under Furuno-sensei. What lured Tanaka into the arts was the medium: etching. Unlike many of his peers, Tanaka knew what he wanted to depict: the world in which he came from and lived and in particular where man and nature combined. His minutely accurate etchings focus on thatched-roof farmhouses and threadlike tree branches that are quickly disappearing from the Japanese landscape. Human figures play almost no part in Tanaka’s works, but they are implied at every turn. Their absence, along with his color selection of umber, black, greenish gray tones provide a sense of quiet and distance. What grabs Tanaka as an artist also grabs us: the use of etching to bring life and spirit to a place of habitation – a place that we may call our own.