Gideon Attacking King of Midian
Artist/Culture
Watanabe, Sadao
(Japanese, 1913–1996)
Date1972
Mediumstenciled ink and brushed colors on crumpled paper
Dimensionssheet: 67.5 × 58.4 cm (26 9/16 × 23 in.)
ClassificationsPrints
Credit LineGift of Mrs. David J. Milliken
Object number2001.17
Label Text2004-08-06: WATANABE, Sadao (1913-96)
Gideon Attacking the Kings of Midian
1972
Ed. 14/70; signed in white ink Sadao Watanabe
Stenciled ink and brushed colors on crumpled paper
Gift of Mrs. David J. Milliken, 2001.17
A devoted Christian, Watanabe Sadao was inspired by the Old and New Testament. This work depicts the story of Gideon, an ordinary man who had been asked by an angel of God to deliver the Israelites from the Midianites. Gideon (left), finally relying on his faith, defeated the enemy against all odds and beheaded Zebah and Zalmunna, the Kings of Midian (Judges 8:21).
Watanabe learned the traditional stencil-print technique (katazome) while working as a designer at a kimono-dyeing shop in the early 1940s. His teachers and friends were champions of the Folk Art Movement: the founder Yanagi Soetsu, the stencil artist-teacher Serizawa Keisuke, and the expressionistic artist Munakata Shiko. Watanabe was attracted to the movement's reliance on a greater power in order to create useful crafts from natural materials-only he interpreted their philosophy with a Christian, rather than Buddhist faith.
To create this print, Watanabe placed a cut paper stencil on a light-box. The hand-crumpled, yellow-painted momigami paper was placed on top of the stencil and the areas between stencil-lines were painted with bright colors. The stencil was then placed on top of the paper and covered with paste forced through a silk screen. After removing the stencil, Watanabe brushed black paint over the entire work. When the print was submerged in water and the paste removed, the protected colored areas and the blackened stencil design were revealed.ProvenanceMrs. David J. MillikenOn View
Not on view
