Kunimatsu Fukai also known as Kuni Fukai is a Japanese painter and illustrator born on January 5th,1935 in Yokohama. When he turned 20, he entered the Institute of Modern Art and published his very first series of illustrations for the magazine "Heidon Punch" one year later in 1996. From that early exposure to the art world Fukai managed to catch the eye of the art director of the Parisian store Printemps, who offered him to design a (2 meters long and 6 meters wide) window display. Later on, he kept studying and founded his production company along with his friends Shinji Nagashima, Atsushi Sugimura, and Kuta Ishikawa. In 1964, Fukai was still publishing illustrations for various publications, and his work was influenced by artists like Bernard Buffet.
In 1971, he accepted to collaborate with Eiichi Yamamoto on a project called: "Kanashimi no Beradonna" ( "Belladonna of Sadness" ). A visual masterpiece that took nearly 2 years of work. The movie included watercolor painting with the use of only five main colors. Kuni Fukai took his inspiration from European models to draw the character of Jeanne but also referenced several artists throughout the movie like Gustave Klimt, Egon Schiele, Odilon Redon, Alphonse Mucha, and Felicia Rops.
CREDITS: BLACKXJS (TWITTER)
ILLUSTRATION BY KUNI FUKAI FOR PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER'S SERIES (HAYAKAWA BUNKO SF)
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