About the artist:

Narikawa's art is well known in both Japan and the United States. One man exhibitions of his mezzotints have been held in Tokyo, Kyoto, Los Angeles, New York and Washington. He has also created original mezzotints for art publishers in both countries. Most of Narikawa's mezzotints delineate still life compositions. Not many masters of modern art have dedicated most of their artistic talents to the hazardous medium of the mezzotint. From the rocking of the plate to the scraping and burnishing to bring light out of the darkness, the mezzotint has rightly been called the most delicate and complex of all art methods. Yet no other art can bring forth such magnificent areas of light and shade as this purely tonal medium. The leading twentieth century artists of the mezzotint are D. E. Galinis, Mario Avati, Yozo Hamaguchi, Kiyoshi Hasagawa and Shigenu Narikawa. Of all nations, the artists of Japan have contributed most to the development of the twentieth century mezzotint. In particular, they have excelled in the even more complicated medium of the colour mezzotint where separate plates representing each colour are created and printed in exact registration.