Gently Cradled ～Easy Living～

Ukiyo-e, a renowned form of Japanese art, emerged after an era of unrest and conflict.
Compared with the printed versions, paintings which were hand drawn by artists are called ”Nikuhitsu Ukiyo-e” (hand-painted Ukiyo-e).
They also are historical materials which reflect the culture of different eras through depicted characters, such as beautiful women or actors, and landscapes. Ink was used for painting black, while chalk and pigments were used for colors.

Hiraga was born in 1936 in Tokyo and graduated from the College of Economics, Rikkyo University, in 1959.
His detail-oriented works depicting Japan, modeled after Ukiyoe, are known as humorous and erotic.
The Kei Hiraga Museum is located in Kanagawa Prefecture. Hiraga’s works are collected at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and others.

Born 1948 in Tokyo． In 1968, he entered the Tokyo University of Fine Arts to study oil painting.
He has exhibited drawings such as book bindings and magazine illustrations. Since around 1985, he started studying the technique of engraving. Using sharp tipped tools (pencils, ballpoints, burin and fine-point brushes), he imbues the feelings he has when he sees objects in these tips, engraving them onto paper or copperplate with lines which as far as possible do not overlap, and finishes the work when it has a kind of “saturation”.

Born 1941 in Tokyo. Mainly employing Japanese ink, he intently draws what he sees around him through the four seasons – Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. He not only draws, but touches, observes, plays with and eats flowers or fruit.
He believes that through these honest encounters, something new can be discovered. He has published the works “Picture Letters, How Are You”, and “Message from Musashino Flowers, Message from the Wind”.
(Surugadai Yoyosha).

Born in 1953 in Beppu. Graduated in Business Administration from the Economics Department of Rikyo University.
Studied under the painter Kei Hiraga. Drew peanut and rice cake hawkers, as well as “Auspicious Things” – “Large-Headed Dwarf Statue”, “The Beckoning Cat”, and “Billboard Pictures” – in the Asakusa Mokuba Theater.
Recently, under the title “Asakusa Human Beauty”, he took his pen to the world of the near future (human magic), and drew “Showpiece Fairy Tale Asakusa” (Views In and Around Kyoto).
He has also written “Diary of the Asakusa Mokuba” (Chikuma Shobo), “Tsuiden Diary” (Yubun Shoin), and the picture book “Festival of Demons” (Nagasaki Shuppan).

Born 1974 in Shinnagawa. Graduated 1998 in oil painting from the Modeling Faculty of Musashino Art University.
Rather than substance or scenery, she views things as a “field of view”, and using oil colors, creates rich hues.