Clifton Karhu was a wonderful printmaker born in Duluth, Minnesota in the year 1927. Karhu was fortunate in that both of his parents were artists, but he decided to join the Army.
Karhu was stationed in Japan, and the artist fell in love with the culture and atmosphere.
After his stint in the military was finished he enrolled at what is now called the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Its easy to see the love that Karhu had for the Japanese culture. The artist had a twin brother who said that Clifton didn’t own any western clothes and preferred to wear a kimono.
After working mainly in oils and watercolors the artist studied and mastered to art of woodblock printing in the early 1960s. After this time period he was considered one of the best of all time as far a woodblock printing and was included in top printmaking shows worldwide.
Here we view a montage of works by Clifton Karhu:
Most of Karhu’s work has to do with the landscapes of Japan. What I enjoy most is his use of color and strong graphic design. We can learn a great deal from studying the work of this artist!
For instance if you have the same shape repeated over and over such as a window with square or rectangle shape. Just repeat the shape FREEHAND! Don’t use a ruler and try to make each window exactly one half inch for example. Just use an approximation and go with it! Your work will look much stronger as a result.
Clifton Karhu passed away in 2007.
Price range information: Sorry none available.
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