HOMMAGE TO MY FATHER
Shinichi Tajiri
Shinichi Tajiri: HOMMAGE TO MY FATHER. Hilversum: Steendrukkerij De Jong & Co, 1973. First impression [3,000 copies]. 16.5 x 23.25 - inch [41.9 x 59 cm] offset litho poster produced by Shinichi Tajiri and the Steendrukkerij De Jong printers in October 1973. Dutch, English, German and French text to verso [as issued]. A fine fresh example with vibrant colors.
16.5 x 23.25 - inch [41.9 x 59 cm] offset litho poster produced by Shinichi Tajiri and the Steendrukkerij De Jong printers in October 1973. Tajiri dedicated this image to his father Ryukichi Tajiri (1876-1939).
Shinkichi Tajiri (Los Angeles, December 7, 1923 – Baarlo, Netherlands, March 15, 2009) was an American sculptor who resided in the Netherlands from 1956 onwards. He was also active in painting, photography and cinematography.
A Japanese American, Tajiri was born in Watts, a working-class neighborhood of Los Angeles. He was the fifth of seven children born to Ryukichi Tajiri and Fuyo Kikuta, first generation emigrants (issei), who moved from Japan to the United States in 1906 and 1913.
In 1936, the family relocated to San Diego. His father died when he was fifteen. In 1940, Tajiri received his first lessons in sculpture from Donal Hord.
In 1942, Tajiri's family was evacuated to Poston War Relocation Center in Arizona. He was a soldier, with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, like his brother Vincent. They fought in Europe, from 1943 on and he was wounded in Italy. Shinkichi went back to Chicago to study at the Art Institute from 1946 to 1948.
In 1949 he went to Paris to study with Ossip Zadkine and then Fernand Léger. He met Karel Appel and Corneille in Paris and shows at the 1949 COBRA exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. In 1951 he went to Germany and taught at the Werkkunstschule Wuppertal. In 1955 he won a Golden Palm at Cannes, for his first short film, The Vipers, because of his experimental use of the language of film. From 1956 he lived in the Netherlands, since 1962 in Baarlo. He worked as a sculptor and painter. He exhibited at the famous Kassel documenta II, 1959; III, 1964 and IV, 1968. From 1969 Tajiri Shinkichi taught at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste at Berlin. 1969 and 1970 Shinkichi took pictures of every part of the Berlin Wall. In 1970 he went to Denmark and directed the award-winning documentary Bodil Joensen - en sommerdag juli 1970 about Bodil Joensen. In 1975 and 1976 he recreated the Daguerreotype: surreal portraits, nudes and daguerreotypes of the Wall.
"The Quadrat-Prints are a series of experiments in printing ranging over the fields of graphic design, the plastic arts, literature, architecture and music. They are edited by Pieter Brattinga and are not for sale."
"The Quadrat-Prints appear at irregular intervals. They are published only after the most stringent requirements of intellectual and technical production have been met."
Steendrukkerij De Jong & Co. published 34 Quadrat-Prints between 1955 and 1974, with Brattinga serving as general editor and individual designers given free reign with their chosen subjects in the visual arts, literature, music, architecture, typography, etc. None of these publications were for sale -- they were distributed to friends and business associates by De Jong as elaborate self-promotions.