Clifton Karhu Art
American, 1927-2007
Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Clifton Karhu was one of the most acclaimed American woodblock artists to work in Japan. Though the son of two painters and artistically inclined from an early age, Karhu joined the military. Stationed at the American Navy base in Sasebo from 1946 to 1948, he fell in love with Japan. Upon his return to the United States, he attended the Minneapolis Art School (1950-1952) before returning to Japan in 1952, this time as a missionary of the Lutheran church. From Hiroshima to Kyoto, he and his wife sold bibles until he became disillusioned with the mission. Settling in Gifu prefecture, he returned to art, working in oils and watercolor. Karhu’s reputation grew swiftly, winning first prize at the Middle Pacific Art Group Exhibition, and held his first solo exhibition at Shin Gifu Gallery. In 1963, Karhu moved to Kyoto. Immersed in the city’s vibrant artistic community, he began a successful career in woodblock printmaking. His self-carved and self-printed works portray traditional style houses and architectural details. Deeply expressive, yet precise and geometric, Karhu's style earned him enormous popularity worldwide.When asked about his medium, he states: “In Kyoto the vertical and horizontal lines of the tile roofs and the latticed windows strike a special harmony, like something alive. In my prints of Kyoto, I always strive to express this human warmth. Since wood accounts for much of Kyoto’s beauty, it may also be the best way that beauty can be expressed - through woodblock prints.”to
1
4
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
6
1
2
2
4
3
2
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
1
4
1
1
1
10
10,222
2,785
2,504
1,384
3
6
Artist: Clifton Karhu
Clifton Karhu Original Color Woodblock, 1974, Koshihata Autumn
By Clifton Karhu
Located in Phoenix, AZ
This beautiful, limited edition original color woodblock is by the famous
Showa Shin Hanga woodblock master Clifton Karhu (1927-2007).
It bears the original frame and has a label on the back from a Tokyo gallery.
The work is a beautiful impression with rich color. It and the frame are in excellent condition.
The print measures 16 x 16 inches. The frame is 23 ½ x 23 ½ inches.
It is numbered lower left as AP5 - Artist Proof #5 and is pencil signed and dated ‘74 lower right.
An American of Finnish descent, Clifton Karhu was born in Minnesota in 1927. Raised together with his twin brother Raymond, Karhu was the son of painters Arne and Anna Karhu. After his graduation in 1946 he served in the military at an American Navy base in Japan.
Returning to America following his military service in 1950, Karhu enrolled at the Minneapolis School of Art but quit two years later to pursue missionary work as a Lutheran minister.
Karhu left the missionary work in 1958 and chose to move his new family to Gifu City, a small provincial town northwest of Kyoto, Japan where he set about returning to his art. Karhu soon found local success in 1961; obtaining first prize at the Chubu Taiheijo Bijutsu Kyokai Ten (The Middle Pacific Art Group Exhibition) and fixing his first single, professional exhibition at the Shin Gifu Gallery.
In hopes of providing their three children with an international education, Karhu settled in Kyoto in 1963. The next few years proved heavily influential in Karhu’s work. Arguably forming the foundation for all his future success, Karhu found tutelage under recognized woodblock artist and gallery owner Tetsuo Yamada and colour theorist Stanton Macdonald-Wright. Responsible for shifting Karhu’s artistic doubts, Karhu proceeded to fulfill a very successful career in woodblock printing - carving his own works largely by himself.
Clifton Karhu passed away in 2007 after an illustrious career that saw him viewed and celebrated as a local Kyoto celebrity, as well as having exhibited widely in many countries around the world. His woodblock prints have been collected by many famous museums including the Tokyo Modern Art...
Category
Late 20th Century Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Paper
Shrine, wood block print, Japan, yellow, brown, black, graphic, Karhu
By Clifton Karhu
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Shrine, wood block print, Japan, yellow, brown, black, graphic, Karhu
Category
1970s Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Driftwood
Tahiti
By Clifton Karhu
Located in New York, NY
Signed, titled, and dated.
Color woodblock print.
Category
1960s Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Woodcut
Cake Shop, woodblock print by Clifton Karhu, red, yellow, black, framed, Japan
By Clifton Karhu
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Cake Shop, woodblock print by Clifton Karhu, red, yellow, black, framed, Japan
hand signed and numbered
Category
1990s Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Paper
Koshihata Snow, woodblock print by Clifton Karhu, white, Japan, framed, signed
By Clifton Karhu
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Koshihata Snow, woodblock print by Clifton Karhu, white, Japan, framed, signed 1975
hand signed and numbered
Category
1970s Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Paper
Shoji, woodblock print by Clifton Karhu, round, framed, brown, white, yellow
By Clifton Karhu
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Shoji, woodblock print by Clifton Karhu, round, framed, brown, white, yellow
framed woodblock print
hand signed and numbered by the artist
Category
1990s Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Paper
Related Items
California Surfer
By Ludwig Favre
Located in New York, NY
ABOUT THIS PIECE: French photographer Ludwig Favre recently road tripped to California. His pictures of California's iconic architecture and beaches carry the same romantic feel of a...
Category
2010s Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Photographic Paper
Carcavelos Pier Paddle (framed) - large scale photograph of summer beach scene
By Massimo Vitali
Located in San Francisco, CA
large format photograph of a summer beach scene along Portugal's Atlantic coast by iconic Italian photographer Massimo Vitali, renowned for his grand scale topographical observations of the rites and rituals of modern leisure
Carcavelos Pier Paddle (2016)
61.25” x 81.68” / 155.60 cm x 207.46 cm
limited edition of 6 + 2AP (signed, titled and dated on certificate of authenticity)
original archival photography print with diasec (acrylic glass) face mount in contemporary white lacquered gallery frame
Each limited edition original Massimo Vitali photograph is printed in Italy under artist supervision in strictly limited edition (6 + 2AP) , signed/titled/dated upon final inspection and expertly framed at renowned European art framing facility
Disclaimer of authenticity:
although it is possible to acquire (small size) single page offset prints from the book "A Portfolio of Landscapes and Figures" (published by Steidl) in the secondary market, the artist studio strongly dissuades collectors from purchasing these single page prints outside of the context and authenticity of the complete portfolio.
About the artist:
Massimo Vitali was born in Como, Italy, in 1944.
He studied photography at the London College of Printing, in the 1970s initially working as a photojournalist, but at the beginning of the 80s a growing mistrust in the belief that photography had an absolute capacity to reproduce the subtleties of reality led to a change in his career path.
Vitali worked in cinematography for film and television before beginning a fine art practice in 1995.
Over the next two decades, he would gain recognition for his highly detailed, epic-scale panoramas — sociopolitical observations of the natural habitat of humankind at leisure. Vitali’s iconic series of beach panoramas, captured from a distance with an elevated large-format camera platform, began in the light of drastic political changes in Italy.
Drawing inspiration from Renaissance and Old Flemish masters, in which the central space is fully exploited and the urban or natural landscape becomes the background, Vitali’s photographs grasp the viewer by capturing highly detailed observances of the recreational habitats of modern civilization.
Vitali’s work has been collected in six monographs: Beach and Disco, Natural Habitats, Landscapes With Figures, Swimming Pools, Short Stories and Entering A New World.
Additionally, his work is represented in the world’s major museums, including the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver, the Fond National Art Contemporaine in Paris, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris, the Fondation Cartier in Paris and the Museo Luigi Pecci in Prato.
Massimo Vitali lives and works in Lucca (Italy) and in Berlin (Germany).
__________________________
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021
'PienoVuoto'
Forte di Belvedere, Florence
2020
'Human Constellations'
Museo Ettore Fico, Turin
2019
Massimo Vitali: Short Stories'
Mazzoleni, London
2018
'Coastal Colonies'
Spiral, Tokyo
2017
‘Disturbed Coastal Systems’
Benrubi Gallery (New York, USA)
2016
‘Landscapes with Figures’
Guido & Schoen Arte Contemponania (Genoa, Italy)
2016
‘Massimo Vitali’
Crown Gallery (Knokke-Zoute, Belgium)
2016
‘Massimo Vitali’
Ronchini Gallery (London, UK)
2015
‘New Prints’
Hilger Next (Vienna, Austria)
2014
‘Massimo Vitali’
Studio La Citta (Verona, Italy)
2014
‘Into The White’
Erich Lindenberg Art Foundation (Porza, Switzerland)
2014
‘Sempre più pallide. Towards Achrome’
Palazzo Tadea (Spilimbergo, Italy)
2013
‘Between Normalities’
Bonni Benrubi...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Plexiglass, Wood, Photographic Film, Archival Paper, Photographic Paper
$46,500
H 61.25 in W 81.7 in D 2.55 in
Cat - Woodcut by Giselle Halff - Mid 20th Century
By Giselle Halff
Located in Roma, IT
Black Cat is an Original Woodcut Print realized in the Mid-20th Century by Giselle Halff (1899-1971).
Good condition, monogrammed on the lower right corner.
Giselle Halff (1899-197...
Category
Mid-20th Century Modern Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Woodcut
$249 Sale Price
25% Off
H 9.85 in W 6.89 in D 0.04 in
False Start
By Jessica Brilli
Located in New York, NY
ABOUT THIS ARTIST: Jessica Brilli (Sayville, NY 1977) has been drawing and painting since her childhood. Working in a style that encompasses American realism and 20th century graphic...
Category
2010s Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Photographic Paper
Surimono - Original Woodcut Print by Yashima Gakutei - 1820/1846
By Yashima Gakutei
Located in Roma, IT
Surimono is a beautiful color woodcut with white and silver gold embossing, made between 1820 and 1846 by the Japanese artist Yashima Gakutei.
A young woman is squatting on the floor, holding a musical instrument, the favorite subject of the Japanese master.
With a layer of dust, a small hole in the upper margin to the right and some fading, the original print is still in good condition and retains its incredible charm.
Really the surimonos are a genre of Japanese woodblock prints, privately commissioned for special occasions. Being produced in a small edition for a mostly educated audience, surimono were often more experimental in subject matter and treatment, and extravagant in printing technique, than commercial prints.
Good conditions except a minor fading on top and some brushing of paper.
Yashima Gakutei (c. Osaka, 1786 - 1868)
The Japanese artist and poet was a pupil of both Totoya Hokkei...
Category
Early 19th Century Modern Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Woodcut
$4,045
H 8.67 in W 7.49 in D 0.04 in
Blue Moon Rising
The Tree - Print on Glass with White Gold leaf in white frame
Located in London, GB
"I am primarily driven by an exploration of colour and form. My objective is to bring an emotional is to bring an emotional element and aesthetic balance to my work."
"It came to me in the middle of the night - as these things often do - that to incorporate gold leaf into the finished print would neatly encapsulate some of the elements I am trying to express. Its application would obviously have to be done by hand with all its attendant imperfections and mistakes. Kintsugi - the Japanese art of patching broken ceramics with gold - shares its aesthetic with Wabi Sabi." - Valda Bailey...
Category
2010s Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Gold Leaf
$3,838 Sale Price
30% Off
H 12.21 in W 16.15 in D 1.19 in
Inglewood
By Jessica Brilli
Located in New York, NY
ABOUT THIS ARTIST: Jessica Brilli (Sayville, NY 1977) has been drawing and painting since her childhood. Working in a style that encompasses American realism and 20th century graphic...
Category
2010s Modern Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Photographic Paper
An umbrella. Limited edition print, Surrealism, Established Polish artist
By Rafał Olbiński
Located in Warsaw, PL
Contemporary colorful figurative surrealistic print on paper by Polish artist Rafal Olbinski. This print shows woman with dress shaped like an umbrella from under which it rains. The...
Category
2010s Surrealist Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Paper, Color
Landsend
By Jessica Brilli
Located in New York, NY
ABOUT THIS ARTIST: Jessica Brilli (Sayville, NY 1977) has been drawing and painting since her childhood. Working in a style that encompasses American realism and 20th century graphic...
Category
2010s Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Photographic Paper
The Lunar Cycle – 9 Phases of the Moon by Guy Allen. Prints with Wooden Frames
By Guy Allen
Located in Coltishall, GB
A set of nine prints.
The Moon has had an importance in human culture since the dawn of history and likely before. Often revered as a feminine deit...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Paper, Etching, Wood
$5,415
H 72.84 in W 72.84 in D 0.79 in
Impressionistic Victorian Garden Scene - Bay Area Lithograph
Located in Soquel, CA
Impressionistic Victorian Garden Scene - Bay Area Lithograph
Highly detailed lithograph showing a Victorian garden scene by Eva Sikorski (German, American b. 1917 d. 1990.) A path r...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Impressionist Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Paper, Lithograph
$700
H 30 in W 35 in D 0.25 in
Cardoon, Still Life Art, Floral Art, Pink and Green Print, Representative Art
By Vicky Oldfield
Located in Deddington, GB
Vicky Oldfield artist and printmaker, ‘Cardoon’ is a hand coloured collagraph print, the print is taken from a plate which has been collaged with a variety of textured materials. The...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Paper, Intaglio, Ink, Etching
$710
H 23.23 in W 35.44 in D 0.04 in
Previously Available Items
Gobancho, Japanese, woodblock print, limited edition, yellow, brown, green, night
By Clifton Karhu
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Gobancho, Japanese, woodblock print, limited edition, yellow, brown, green,night
KARHU, CLIFTON (1927 - 2007 )
Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Clifton Karhu was one of the most acclaimed American woodblock...
Category
1970s Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Woodcut
Edo Sojourn, Japanese, Wood cut, limited edition print, red, orange, back, blue
By Clifton Karhu
Located in Santa Fe, NM
Edo Sojourn, Japanese, Wood cut, limited edition print, red, orange, back, blue
KARHU, CLIFTON (1927 - 2007 )
Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Clifton Karhu was one of the most acclaimed American woodblock...
Category
1970s Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Woodcut
Ashiya, Framed Woodcut by Clifton Karhu
By Clifton Karhu
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Clifton Karhu, American/Japanese (1927 - 2007)
Title: Ashiya
Year: 1978
Medium: Woodcut on Wove Paper, signed and dated in ink l.l.
Size: 7 x 9.5 inches
Frame Size: 17 x 19.5...
Category
1970s Contemporary Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Woodcut
Set of Five Woodblock Prints
By Clifton Karhu
Located in Houston, TX
The individual photos are in the same order as the listings below:
Year: Print #: Dimensions (w/o frame): Dimensions (w/ frame):
1. San Jo - Kyoto 1960 24/100 6.75 in. x 10.25 in. 8.75 in. x 12.75 in.
2. Hong Kong Boats...
Category
1960s Modern Clifton Karhu Art
Materials
Woodcut
Clifton Karhu art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Clifton Karhu art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Clifton Karhu in paper, driftwood, wood and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the contemporary style. Not every interior allows for large Clifton Karhu art, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of April Gornik, Hughie Lee-Smith, and Tony Bennett. Clifton Karhu art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $1,060 and tops out at $3,500, while the average work can sell for $3,500.