The Japanese artist Miyata Masayuki (1926–1997) was a world-known paper cutter. His elegant pictures often give an impression of the scenes from an animated film by Disney that was never released. At the same time, the explicitness of some stylized illustrations rather brings to mind the engravings of Eric Gill.
Fig. 1. Miyata at work (rimg.com)
Fig. 2. ccctok.com
Fig. 3. ccctok.com
Fig. 4. rimg.com
Fig. 5. Illustration to Love Songs from the Manyoshu (masayuki-miyata-kirie.jp)
Fig. 6. aucfree.com
Fig. 7. auctions.c.yimg.jp
The Self-Taught Artist
Masayuki Miyata was born in Tokyo in 1926. His family background is unknown. According to the personal info at different web galleries, Miyata didn't have any artistic education, yet joined Charles E. Tuttle Publishing as a book designer at 28. Interestingly, this publishing house aimed at foreign book markets, so the works of Miyata deserved recognition abroad. Six years later, he won the top award in the All-American National Book Jacket Competition. Only after that, according to the website devoted to Miyata's work, he was noticed by the Japanese novelist Junichiro Tanizaki, who offered him to illustrate his work "Yukigoan Yawa" (Night Talk at Yukigoan). Thus, Miyata was already an acknowledged master when approached by Tanizaki, though sources like Wikipedia don't mention the early stage of his career.
Fig. 8. eigermonchjungfrau.blog
The Sword Paintings
The art of Miyata, known in Japan as kiri-e (paper cutting), originates from China, where it's called Jianzhi, and traces back to the time of paper invention (2nd century AD). In general, there are two techniques of paper cutting: with scissors and with knives. Miyata, whose works are highly valued in the homeland of this art, is said to have developed his own technique and established a new genre of sword paintings (katana-seiga). According to some entries, the artist used to cut one type of Japanese paper with a single knife throughout his career.
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Sources: Wikipedia.org; masayuki-miyata-kirie.jp; ccctok.com; imagemakersart.com/masayuki-miyata; tobunken.go.jp
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