Collector and scholar of Japanese art and writer Oliver H. Statler (1915-2002) interviewed most of the printmakers in postwar Japan while working for the U.S. Occupation Forces (1945-1952) and published "Modern Japanese Prints" in 1956 after he returned to his hometown of Chicago. The book later became a classic in the field and was even translated into Russian in the Soviet Union. He wrote:
"Sekino lives in one of Tokyo's myriad little off-the-avenue residential areas, laced by unnamed, unpaved lanes and punctuated by the neighborhood bathhouse. His studio is upstairs, and when he comes down, the visitor's first impression is of big wide eyes and huge shock of unruly black hair."
Sekino was relatively unknown then but built a reputation for having unique and exceptional skills in making woodblock prints of realistic portraits. One day, a well-dressed U.S. Army officer and his wife walked through the unnamed and unpaved narrow lanes and visited him to custom-order their portraits for about ten dollars worth of yen (which provided a Japanese person with a big payday at the time). Sixty years later, the portraits turned up at Skinner Auctioneers and were auctioned off at $7,700.
Statler continued: "Ingenious and friendly, [Sekino] consistently manages to give the impression of fresh pleasure with the world, but nothing makes him light up like consideration of his three extraordinarily handsome and winning children, two boys and a girl, who have often appeared in his prints."
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