b/w mezzotint
1996
3 7/8 x 11 1/2
edition: 90
Han 119
signed in pencil
The sensual profile of a young nude woman is seen sleeping with her torso stretched out. The mezzotint is signed, titled and dated by the artist in pencil, from a roman numeral edition of XXX. This is impression XXIV
Mikio Watanabe (Japanese, b. 1954) Born in Yokohama in 1954, Watanabe graduated from Ecole des Beaux Arts in Tokyo in 1977 and then moved to Paris. Two years later, he was honored by admission to Atelier 17 in Paris and by 1983 had mastered the mezzotint process. He has created over 90 mezzotints, each velvety black creation featuring his model and wife, Yuriko. Of his art Watanabe has written: “It is essential that I vigorously train myself, perpetually purifying and polishing my character. My works are an effort to capture with sincerity the beauty that is manifest in nature. The moment when the copper plate, the technique, the tools and myself become one harmonious whole is when the best of each element is brought out.”
