Rokansai

Select a thumbnail for a larger photo and description
Back to Basketry

Artist Bio

The son of a skilled basket weaver, Iizuka Hōsai I, Iizuka Rōkansai had aspirations of becoming a painter but was persuaded to remain in the family profession. From 1922 he began to garner awards for his work at exhibition, with a silver prize at the Tokyo Peace Exposition for a piece purchased by the Imperial Household, and another in the Kōgeiten. In 1925 he won a bronze medal in Paris at the International Exposition of Modern and Industrial Decorative Arts, and in 1931 was first accepted into the Teiten, where in 1932 he was the first bamboo artist to win a Tokusen or Gold Prize for a basket. This piece was also honored by Imperial purchase. Rokansai continued to exhibit at the Shin-Bunten, and after the War at the Nitten. Iizuka Rōkansai's work bridges the pre-war and post-war traditions of studio basketry, and his influence on later bamboo artists was immense. Intensely creative and intellectual in his approach, Rōkansai reinvented Japanese basketry as a sculptural and modern art form.