"KARASAWA HITOSHI: A RETROSPECTIVE 1971-2006". Collectif.  Editions Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts & The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama. 2006. Grand in-8, couverture toilée noire estampée. 240 pages. Textes bilingues Japonais / Anglais de Yamanashi Toshio, Kokatsu Reiko, Mizusawa Tsutomu & Nagato Saki, traduction par Ogawa Kikuko, illustré de très nombreuses reproductions photographiques N&B et couleurs, hors texte, de travaux de Karasawa Hitoshi. Ouvrage réalisé dans le cadre de l'exposition éponyme au Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Fine Arts du 16 Juillet au 03 Septembre 2006 et au Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura, du 28 Octobre au 24 Décembre 2006. Complet de son estampe réalisée spécialement pour ce catalogue (Postludium, 2006).

 

"It is a great pleasure for us to present the first full-scale retrospective of Karasawa Hitoshi in the two prefectural museums of Tochigi, where he was born, and Kanagawa, where he resided for a long time. Born in 1950, Karasawa Hitoshi is widely appreciated for his woodblock prints. Among them, his elaborate expressions in wood engraving are quite exceptional. Once you have experienced the joy of encountering his world overflowing with literary quality and fragrance, the shuddering images are deeply incised in your memory. The innumerable stars jostling in the pitch-black night, the details of a human head engraved elaborately and precisely to each one of the wrinkles and each strand of hair, queer imaginary animals that could never exist in reality, and the unknown illustrated tales he creates having ranged extensively over literature of all ages and civilizations - these are the natural history of the various things that exist inexhaustibly in the vastness of the entire cosmos. Memories of innumerable images spun by mankind from ancient times are condensed onto a single sheet of paper. Confronted by the world of Karasawa's wood engravings, one cannot but be shocked by the intensity of his vivid images..."

 

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