Reika Iwami

Reika Iwami 岩見 禮花 was a Sōsaku-hanga woodblock printmaker from Tokyo who worked primarily with abstract compositions. Iwami was among the first women to become well-known in the printmaker community both in and out of Japan. A member of the Sōsaku-hanga movement, she is considered a pioneer in 20th-century print art. Her works consisted of representations of the natural world using monochromatic or subdued colors, embossing, and metal leaf. She studied with Koshiro Onchi, a prominent founder of the Sōsaku-hanga movement, as well as Onchi’s associates Sekino Jun'ichirō and Shinagawa Takumi, the latter influencing Iwami’s use of driftwood in her prints.