Born in Hyogo on January 3rd 1929, Inue Tai was first undecided whether to become a sculptor or a woodblock print artist. He first gained recognition for his sculptures. He had been taught by Tadashi Nomura, a local craftsman, and already at 20, in 1949, he had his first exhibition at the Himeji Art Museum. In 1955 he was struck by Shikô Munakata's "In praise of flower hunting", a 132 x 158 cm woodblock print made from 14 blocks. He decided to turn his attention to woodblock prints, and like Munakata he has made a great number of large-size prints. In recent years he has also become known in the West, and in 2006 he had a one-man exhibition at a major Swiss Gallery (Bachmann Eckenstein, Basel).
