Woodblock Prints by Clifton Karhu (1927-2007)

Clifton Karhu - Biography
Entrance Garden, 1979
copyright Clifton Karhu

Clifton Karhu has been one of the most successful (and most expensive) Japanese printmakers during the second half of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Japanese printmaker? Not really. He was an American from Duluth, Minnesota. What made his woodblock prints so successful?

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An American in Japan

Clifton Karhu first came to Japan as a soldier of the American Forces. When he returned to Japan for the second time, he came as a missionary of the Lutheran Church but soon stopped selling Bibles and returned to fine arts, his original roots in the U.S.A. where he had graduated in 1952 from the Minneapolis School of Art.

After some tough beginnings he finally became successful as a woodblock printmaker. He settled in Kyoto where he spent most of his life and where he passed away in 2007 of cancer.

The Secret of Clifton Karhu's Success

Clifton Karhu - Obituary
Black Dragon, 2004
copyright Clifton Karhu

What made Karhu's woodblock prints so successful? Some say that he beat the Japanese in their own field because he was more Japanese than the Japanese themselves. When Japanese printmakers began to adopt Western printing techniques like etching, silkscreen or mezzotint, Karhu perfected himself in the old traditional way of making Japanese woodblock prints.

I don't think that this is the full story. Although many Japanese artists adopted Western printmaking techniques after 1945, the Japanese woodblock print remained the dominant medium for most of the younger generation up to our days.

So what is Karhu's formula of success?

I think it is the desire of the art audience for simplicity and romanticism combined with the esteem of quality and Karhu's strive for perfection. It is basically the same drive that makes today's art collectors spend thousands on a rare woodblock print from the shin hanga period.

Limited Editions - the Real McCoy

Ido Masao - Biography
Gobancho, 1976
copyright Clifton Karhu

Karhu hardly changed his style and his motifs over the years and decades. His subjects were romantic town views from the old Gion district in Kyoto and elsewhere. Clifton Karhu mastered the whole process of woodblock printmaking himself including the carving and printing.

The mastering of the media allowed him to explore new grounds with unusual formats. Therefore you will find a lot of print formats seldom used by woodblock printmakers like roundels, diamond formats or long vertical but narrow "windows"

Nearly all of Karhu's woodblock prints were created as limited editions, signed, numbered and dated - just the usual way modern printmakers handle this. These woodblock prints are the "real Karhu prints", and collectors must pay $ 1,000 or more to get such a work of art on paper.

Here are a few examples of Karhu's hand-signed, limited edition prints that we offered in our auction # 790 in July of 2009.

Clifton Karhu Prints - Roundels

Osamu Sugiyama - Biography
Nishijin Corner, 1982
copyright Clifton Karhu

Eimei Machida - Biography
Owariya, 1980
copyright Clifton Karhu

Clifton Karhu Prints - Diamond Format

Waichi Hayashi - Biography
Katsura Corner, 1981
copyright Clifton Karhu

Ryusei Okamoto - Biography
Katsura Autumn, 1981
copyright Clifton Karhu

Clifton Karhu Prints - Long and Skinny

Ray Morimura
Kazuemachi
copyright Clifton Karhu

Sano Seiji
Kanazawa Sunset
copyright Clifton Karhu

Kazuyuki Ohtsu
Shady Lane
copyright Clifton Karhu

Shufu Miyamoto
Asanogawa, Trees
copyright Clifton Karhu

Cheap Karhu Prints Published by Unsodo

Art firends not familiar with the work of Karhu are sometimes confused by seeing cheap woodblock prints by the artist. These were published by Unsodo in Kyoto. They were planned as an unlimited edition and are printed from the original blocks on demand. They are not hand-signed. The name "C.Karhu" is printed from the plate.

Over the years we have seen a few more cheap, unsigned Karhu prints with his name printed (not hand-signed) on the margin. Please see our archive of sold Japanese prints for your research.

Below are the more frequent designs that we know from the Unsodo publication.

Kunio Kaneko - Biography
Yasaka Pagoda
copyright Clifton Karhu

Tadashi Nakayama - Biography
Kiyomizu Temple
copyright Clifton Karhu

Oda Mayumi - Biography
Katsura-rikyu
copyright Clifton Karhu

Shigeko Inoue - Biography
Gion District
copyright Clifton Karhu

Tadashi Osaka - Biography
Ine Harbor
copyright Clifton Karhu

"Inner Harbor" is produced as a shikishiban; i.e it is printed on a decorative cardboard. This format is popular in Japan as a present.

Dieter Wanczura
(July 2009)

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