Noda Tetsuya’s Diary of Contemporary Japanese Prints 野田哲也的日本當代版畫日記

Influenced by his upbringing in post-war Japan, and the ideological, social, economic and artistic transformations of the era, Noda Tetsuya started to build a diary of prints in the 1960s, recording his daily life and mastering the challenge of documenting the reality around him in both true and artistic fashion.

Noda’s work is technically highly accomplished and thematically exceedingly personal. Known for being a representative of the long tradition of printmaking in Japan, and as an innovator for the further development of the long-practiced genre, Noda’s work combines photography, traditional Japanese woodblock printing, mimeograph duplication and silkscreen printing in a self-invented and precisely controlled process of layering. The resulting style is evocative of a rare blending of techniques that are illustrative of conventional woodblock and more contemporary mimeograph-silkscreen printing.

Works presented in this publication offer unparalleled insights into the artist’s hand skills and color palette, as well as his intense personal feelings and trademark humility. Few printmakers are quite as exploratory in terms of their technique and so precise in their choice of depicted subjects. Noda Tetsuya’s Diary of Contemporary Japanese Prints represents the long-accumulated knowledge of a well-practiced artform by one of Japan’s best-established artists, while also documenting—in true diary fashion—events that have shaped his personal life, while also standing for the collective experience of Noda’s generation and the societal change witnessed over the last several decades.

Awarded the prestigious Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon by the Emperor of Japan in 2015, Noda Tetsuya has been widely recognized for his innovative contributions to the arts, particularly in the field of printmaking. Still actively producing work, Noda has maintained a consistent vision and daring cross-pollination of techniques throughout a prolific career spanning over 50 years. Born in Kumamoto prefecture in 1940, Noda cultivated an early interest in photography, which he later incorporated into his signature printmaking techniques. During his undergraduate and graduate studies at the Tokyo University of the Arts, he first specialized in painting, but quickly grew dissatisfied with the highly imitative process. Intent on seeking a means of expression that could effectively tap into his most authentic and personal vision, he turned to printmaking, with his daily life as the primary subject matter.

野田哲也的成長階段正值日本戰後意識形態、社會、經濟和藝術經歷劇變的時代，受此影響，他在1960年代開始創作版畫日記，記錄其日常生活，憑著精湛的技術、以寫實精巧的形態把現實呈現出來。

野田氏的藝術造詣深厚，作品主題與自身密切相關。他的創作以承前啟後聞名，糅合攝影、傳統日本木刻版畫、油印和絲網印刷技術，自創嚴謹精細的層疊式技術，在代表日本淵遠悠長的版畫傳統的同時，進一步開創這項由來已久的藝術。隨之而成的是將傳統木版畫和當代油印－絲網印刷結合的罕見技術。

是次出版的作品有助讀者深入了解這位藝術家非凡手藝和色彩搭配，以及其情感豐富和謙和不矜的個性。甚少版畫家在技術方面會如此探奧索隱，亦鮮有在選題上如此明確。野田氏是當今日本藝壇最傑出的藝術家之一，「野田哲也的日本當代版畫日記」代表其對這項歷久彌新的藝術形式所長期積累的豐富知識及經驗，同時以真實的日記方式記錄每一件塑造其生活的事件，亦象徵野田氏同代人的集體經歷和見證過去幾十年的社會變遷。

野田哲也對藝術的貢獻和創新──尤其是在版畫領域──享負盛名，更於2015年被日本天皇授予瑞寶中綬章。野田氏至今仍在積極創作，在他五十多年的藝術生涯中，他保持著一以貫之的視野和大膽結合多元技術的創新。野田氏在1940年出生於熊本縣，從小就培養了對攝影的興趣。後來他把這份興趣融入了他著名的版畫技術當中。在東京藝術大學求學期間，他首先專攻繪畫，但很快便感到受繪畫──尤其是在西洋繪畫傳統中的模仿過程和元素所束縛。為了尋找一種最真實、最能展示個人視野的表達方式，他轉投版畫創作，並以個人的日常生活為主題。

Kuldip K. Singh was a researcher at the University Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Hong Kong, specializing in East Asian art and material culture. She is currently pursuing a DPhil in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oxford.

星家恩曾於香港大學美術博物館擔任研究員，專門研究東亞藝術和物質文化。她現於牛津大學攻讀亞洲與中東研究博士學位。