Reika Iwami


Reika Iwami is a Sōsaku-hanga woodblock printmaker who works primarily with abstract compositions.

Biography

Iwami was born in Tokyo in 1927 but raised in Kyushu. She currently resides in Kanagawa. She studied doll-making at Bunka Gakuin part-time for 11 years before turning her attention to printmaking in 1954.
She studied with Koshiro Onchi, a prominent founder of the Sōsaku-hanga movement.

Prints

Iwami's prints frequently feature sumi black ink, embossing and gold leaf.
"Iwami’s subject is water and its flow, and her genius lies in the almost mystical ability to transmute the grain and texture of pieces of wood she has found into visual images of patterns of water."

Collections

The following is a partial list of collections