Sekino Yowsaku

In 1976, Yosaku opened his own European-style printing workshop where "he assisted various artists to produce their lithographs, etchings, engravings, drypoints and woodblock prints"1 and polished and expanded, through experimentation, the printmaking techniques he learned from his father. 

In the early 1980s, he decided to become an artist himself specializing in color woodblock printmaking. He became active in the Shun'yokai 春陽会 (Spring Principle Association) in 1984, and won numerous awards from the organization including their 1988 Research Award (Kenkyū-shō 春陽会研究賞) and their 2004 Oka Award (春陽会岡賞).2 Yowsaku is also a member of the Japan Artists Association (JAA).3

Since 2007, Nihonbashi Takashimaya's prestigious Bijutsu Garou (art gallery) has shown his woodblock prints every year through one-man shows or small group shows. Yowsaku also exhibits in the annual exhibitions of the College Women's Association of Japan (CWAJ). At the 2015 opening reception of the 60th exhibition of the CWAJ, Empress Michiko purchased his print "Sakura (Cherry Blossoms)" for the Imperial Palace.

Many of his prints stand out for his application of gold and platinum leaf as highlights and the technically difficult application of watercolor inks onto metal leaf, as in the below print.