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A Couple of Cats. Woodblock print, 21/50. Watercolor and Ink on Paper. 17” x 23”

Biography

(Japanese, b. 1902 - d. 1980)

Inagaki Tomō (稲垣知雄) was born in Tokyo and graduated from the Okura Commercial High School. He was introduced to printmaking by Koshirō Onchi and Un'ichi Hiratsuka in 1923, when the older artists were producing the magazine Shi to hanga ("Poetry and Prints"). He acknowledged a great debt to the two masters, attending Shi to hanga meetings regularly and thereby taking his only tutelage in printmaking. He said that "Poetry and Prints convinced me that I wanted to be a print artist." Inagaki also studied commercial art with Hamada Masuji (浜田増治, 1892-1938).

Beginning in 1924, Inagaki published his first prints in magazines and journals, such as the aforementioned Shi to hanga, issue 13, 1924. Other magazines included Hanga ("Prints"), issues 6, 9/10, 11, 14; and Kitsutsuki ("Woodpecker"). He exhibited with the Nihon Sösaku-Hanga Kyōkai ("Japan Creative Print Association") also in 1924. Inagaki became a member of the Nihon Hanga Kyōkai ("Japan Print Association") in 1932. As did many other artists of his generation, he participated in various post-war international competitions, including the Paris, Tokyo, and Lugano biennales. During most of his career, Inagaki, like most of his contemporaries, could not make a living from printmaking. He once worked for a steel company, and starting in 1935, he taught at the Kyōhoku Commercial High School until 1951, when he joined the Japan Advertising Art School.

Inagaki is admired for his stylized images of cats, although he did not begin publishing them until circa 1951. His earlier works included still lifes, floral subjects, landscapes, and views of towns. Inagaki's work can be found in many private and public collections. A sketch of Inagaki's most sought-after design, "Cat Making Up" (1955), is in the Art Institute of Chicago. A small watercolor is also known.