Watanabe, Sadao
Japanese, 1913–1996
Italian, about 1470/1482–1527/1534
Venetian, born between 1431 and 1436–1516
BiographyBecame a Christian in 1930, and became famous for his biblical stencil prints. Watanabe often used hand-crumpled momigami paper to give a visually rough quality to the print. Watanabe’s simplified faces, showing the eyes connected across the nose were derived from Buddhist folk art. His palette and style were inspired by early hand-colored books.