Sekine Yoshio (関根美夫) (artist 1922 – 1989)

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Biography:

Printmaker. Used the abacus as his motif. Some sources report date of death 1985 or 1989. 1989 is the date given by the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C. The National Museum of Modern Art says he died in June 27, 1989.

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"Sekine passed away in 1989, by which time he had created more than four hundred paintings of the soroban (abacus), some with small designs of beads, others on enormous canvases sporting just one large bead so skillfully done that it created a powerful optical illusion. Of course, he chose only a small portion of his painting output to be made into prints. Those who owned original paintings always felt honored that theirs had been picked to be executed in graphic form."

Quoted from: Collecting Modern Japanese Prints: Then & Now by Mary and Norman Tolman.

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Viewing Japanese Prints says: "Examples of Sekine's works are in many private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, NY; Modern Art Museum, Munich; the Cincinnati Art Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagoya; and the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo." His work is also in the National Museum of Art, Osaka.