Colors and Patterns from Heian Period
1969
After the war and his return to Seattle, Horiuchi opened an automobile paint and body shop and practiced painting as a hobby. When a fall from a ladder left him unfit for manual labor, his hobby became a full-time vocation. He opened Tozai, an antiques gallery and gathering space for artists, which also included a studio for him. Influenced by Mark Tobey, he tapped into his early exposure to Japanese aesthetics to develop his signature style: collages of torn rice paper, dyed by hand in subtle hues and arranged in abstract configurations. This example is mounted on a Japanese screen—its balanced rhythm of rectangular forms mirrors the horizontal orientation of its support. One of a series of screens based on Tales of the Genji, it is a modernized shikishi, a form of collage practiced by poets and calligraphers during the Heian period of 12th-century Japan.
Casein and paint on paper mounted on board
54 x 105 x 5/8 in. (137.16 x 266.7 x 1.59 cm)
Overall h.: 54 in.
Overall w.: 105 in.
Gift in memory of Elisabeth A. Smithson by her son, Richard B. Smithson
71.52
Photo: Elizabeth Mann