Artisan | Woodworker: Kiyohara, Takao | 1916-
Origin:
Kiyohara-san is one of the most popular and prolific of the creative Kokshi artists and began creating dolls after serving as a pilot in the Japanese/American war. He was considered a transitional artist, due to the fact that many of his dolls resemble traditional Tougatta or Yamagata dolls. His dolls are artistically and minimally decorated. He was awarded the Minister’s Prize four times along with the Enterprise Agency top prize on two occasions.
Collector's note – descriptive qualities, standard characteristics & ornamentation styles:
Kiyohara-san’s pieces are minimally ornamented with white and pink cherry blossoms, plum blossoms or simple stripes done in the traditional Rokuro Moyo technique. The unique key characteristic of Kiyohara pieces is ‘the arched eyes and eyebrow. He employs simple turning techniques in either a straight fashion or a bulbous shape which aid in defining the body of each doll, and are directly inspired by Traditional kokeshi forms.