From the article "He was drawn to the style of Japanese style of woodblock prints."
The art of Japanese woodblock printing, known as ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world"), reflects the rich history and way of life in Japan hundreds of years ago. Ukiyo-e: The Art of the Japanese Print takes a thematic approach to this iconic Japanese art form, considering prints by subject matter: geisha and courtesans, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, erotica, nature, historical subjects and even images of foreigners in Japan.
An artist himself, author Frederick Harris—a well-known American collector who lived in Japan for 50 years—pays special attention to the methods and materials employed in Japanese printmaking. The book traces the evolution of ukiyo-e from its origins in metropolitan Edo (Tokyo) art culture as black and white illustrations, to delicate two-color prints and multicolored designs. Advice to admirers on how to collect, care for, view and buy Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints rounds out this book of charming, carefully selected prints.
By Carl Nolte, Columnist Feb 22, 2025 San Francisco Chronicle
Tom Killion delivered the afternoon newspaper on a bike when he was a boy growing up in Mill Valley at the foot of Mount Tamalpais. His route took him up Cascade Canyon past houses deep in the woods and along a little creek. The creek was placid and mild most of the year, but in the winter, after the rains, the little stream roared over small waterfalls — cascades — and over the gnarly roots of redwood trees and into little dark pools, deep blue like inkwells.
“They were dark, like the inkwells we had on those old school desks we had at the Old Mill School when I was a kid,’’ he said the other day.
Those dark pools, the white water, the bluish color of the underlying rock, the dark red of the trees all stuck in his mind.
He was drawn to the Japanese style of woodblock prints, particularly in the style of ukiyo-e — which means “floating world” in Japanese — and in the work of Hokusai, the master of the art. Hokusai made landscape prints and his masterpiece was a series called, “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.”
Killion studied history at UC Santa Cruz, but he also studied art and the art of fine books. “I wanted to do my own book,” he said. The result was “28 Views of Mount Tamalpais,” produced at UC Santa Cruz’s Cowell Press. You could see the influence of the Japanese masters in Killion’s work. And you could see the influence of his own world. “It’s in my blood,” he said. “I grew up in the shadow of Mount Tamalpais.’’
But Killion was still a young man; he wanted to see the shadow of other places. “I sold those books for $100 each and made enough money to hitchhike around the world,” he said. Canada, Ireland, England, Paris as the heat of summer settled over the city. “I went everywhere,” he said. To North Africa, “down the Niger River in a trading canoe that had an outboard motor,” he remembered. “Then to the Sudan and East Africa.” He became fascinated with Eritrea and Ethiopia. Killion is more than an artist: He worked in a refugee camp, traveled with rebels in Eritrea, studied the country, taught African history at Bowdoin College in Maine, was a Fulbright Scholar at Asmara University. He produced a book on his travels — words and prints called, “Walls: A Journey Across Three Continents.”
He was always drawn back to where he began. “If you are a Californian you always want to return home to California,” he said.
People say California has no seasons. This Bay Area resident has proved them wrong
Greg