The Artist:      Eiichi Kotozuka (Osaka, 1906 - Kyoto, 1979) was a Japanese painter and woodcut artist who studied at the Kyoto Specialist School of Painting, graduating in 1930.  His first published woodcuts date from 1932, when he exhibited with the association Shun'yokai.  Six years later he became a full member of the Nihon Hanga Kyokai.  Throughout his career, Kotozuka's woodcuts were issued by Kyoto's two major publishers, Uchida Bijutsu Shoten (Uchida Wood Block Printing Company Ltd., founded in 1919 as the Uchida Bijutsu Soshi, the Uchida Art and Book Shop) and Unsodo (founded in 1887).  Kotozuka's evolution as a printmaking artist formed in two distinct periods.  Before the Second World War his woodcuts were designed in the traditional 'Shin Hanga' style, and were mainly landscapes, city views and botanical studies.  After the War, he often worked in association with his friend and fellow Kyoto artist, Tomikichiro Tokuriki.  Both artists began experimenting with more modern techniques and allied themselves with the experimental 'Sosaku Hanga' (Creative Prints) movement.  Brilliantly exploring both form and texture, Kotozuka now both carved his own blocks and printed them by hand, usually in very small editions.   In 1948 he was among the founders of Koryokusha Company with Tomikichiro Tokuriki (Tokuriki's publishing company subsidized their sosaku-hanga), Kamei Tobei and Takahashi Tasaburo.  In the early 1950's, Kotozuka produced a number of large oban-sized woodcuts depicting various birds and flowers. He was winner of many prizes for his art work.1

The Work:      Potted Chrysanthemum (11-3/4" x 17-1/2") is in a white wide-footed shallow oval pot, with moss-covered soil rising up slightly above the pot's rim but below the rim near the edges.  A thin twin-trunked tree in bloom, informal upright bending slightly to the left.  The pot is positioned right of center on a blackish rectangular board with rounded edges.  The apex of the tree is approximately XX times the diameter of one of the blossoms.