Words from curator Norman H. Tolman:

"It is always a challenge to present what we call "new and wonderful art work" to our clients while at the same time telling of  our long-time connection with established masters of the Japanese print world.  With Tsubota Masahiko (b.1947) this is particularly daunting since I have known him for about 40 years.

I watched him develop under the tutelage of the great Izumi Shigeru (1922-1995) for whom he worked as a printer;  and it was his teacher at Osaka University of Fine Arts, Funai Yutaka (b.1932), who first brought him to my attention. As one of Tsubota's few diplomat friends, I was invited to make a speech at his wedding, and went to the first party for his new-born son (now an accomplished artist in his own right.)  Several years later, in the early days of our art business, it was Tsubota and his wife who came to help us cut the mats for prints for one of our first exhibits.  Certainly the greatest "save" in all our years of being art dealers.  All this is to say that I have known this artist well for a long, long time. We became aware of him early and collected virtually every print he made in the '70s and '80s.

Nevertheless I can still say that his work is the most innovative, fresh, different and compelling of all the artists we know and handle. His own innate talent , supplemented by studying under the strict Funai, and working as a printer for the demanding genius who was Izumi, insured that Tsutbota could not have gone wrong... nor has he!  Over the years, with perfection of technique in every composition, he has continued to simplify his strokes of genius, releasing works that are simple, elegant, and imaginative. Their appearance - clean, crisp, and perfect - make them art of which the viewer could never tire."