Chihiro Iwasaki

In case you're wondering, I'm not referring to the fictional character Chihiro Ogino (bet you didn't know her full name) from Miyazaki's Spirited Away. I'm talking about a real person here, an artist who, after nearly twenty years since passing away, continue to impress and speak to those who come into contact with her works.

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Below is an excerpt of her biography from a website dedicated to her:

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"The most remarkable feature of Chihiro Iwasaki is that she was an artist who continued throughout her career to paint children. Even without models, she could accurately draw the differences between a ten month-old baby and a one year old. Using her keen observation and fine sketching skills, Chihiro drew numerous different poses of children in thousands of works. Without a rough sketch, she would pick up a brush, steep it in water, and move it freely across the paper. Thus, she could express children's skin as it was, soft and elastic, lively and fresh. Her pictures are full of life."

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And you'll agree with me she's quite good at depicting children with all their varied expressions (see inset picture). I get to know her through the book Best of Totto-chan, written by Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (she's another interesting person to know; I'll write a little about her next time). Inside are full of Chihiro's illustrations; if you can, get a copy (mine has Japanese text on the left and English on the right). You'll be glad you did.

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