Asada Benji (麻田辨自) (artist 1899 – 1984)
Dog (犬 Inu)
1931
6.5in x 4.36in woodblock print
Signed in block letters
in the upper right 'Ben'
犬 (Inu - Dog) from the magazine Taishō hanga kyōkai, a Kyoto-based group led by Tokuriki Tomikichirō.
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We do not know if Benji Asada, who was born in 1899, was aware of the work of Sir William Nicholson's woodcuts from the Square Book of Animals from 1900, but the similarities are unmistakable. The use of negative space combined with the wonderful contrasts between light and dark are remarkable. We have added a jpeg of Nicholson's English Bulldog to this page. Compare it with Benji's 'Dog'. Note especially the use of the shadows. Nicholson was born in 1872 and lived until 1946, but would have been about 28 or 29 years old when he created his woodcut, a year after Asada's birth.
Nicholson was not knighted until 1936.