Ikki Matsumoto (1935-2013) Japanese/American, Whimsical Woodblock Print. Depicts six owls observing a night sky filled with constellations and a passing comet, along with a turtle stargazing out of their own shell like a planetarium in the tall grass at their feet. Signed in pencil in kanji and in English in pen bottom right, along with the artist's seal. Numbered 154/350 in pencil bottom left. 

Overall Size: 23 3/4 x 31 in. 

Sight Size: 17 1/2 x 26 in. 

Ikki Matsumoto was born in Tokyo, Japan on January 1st, 1935 to the cartoonist and children’s book illustrator Katsuji Matsumoto. In 1955 he traveled to the United States to study at the John Herron School of Art in Indianapolis, later transferring to the Art Academy of Cincinnati to study under the renowned wildlife artist Charles Harper. He graduated in 1959 and married Polly Adamson after he began working for an advertising agency, with his first published works a series of punch out animals designed for Rand McNally in 1961. In 1970 they moved to a farm in Loveland, Ohio, where their ever-growing menagerie of animals further inspired his art and led him to open his own studio in 1972, producing whimsical book illustrations, newspaper ads, package and display designs, and more. In 1975 they relocated to Sanibel Island, Florida, where his career as a painter and printmaker blossomed rapidly by using the native birds as his subjects. For a year in 1980 they moved to Oregon to be closer to his ailing father, but returned to Florida where he remained until his death on December 31st, 2013. Today his works are held in collections around the world, including at the Smithsonian Museum. 

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