Image: Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo
Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts has drawn attention to Takeda Shinzaburo’s print 'My Home’s North Side' in a short collection feature focused on Oaxaca, the Mexican city long associated with printmaking activity. In the museum’s post, the work is identified as one of the pieces in its collection and as a point of entry into Takeda’s long connection with the city.
The museum describes Oaxaca as a ‘holy land’ of printmaking, using the feature to frame both the image and the place it depicts. Takeda is said to live in Oaxaca, where he has spent many years teaching mural painting and printmaking locally. The museum’s note presents that sustained engagement as part of the city’s identity as a place with numerous print workshops and galleries.
The collection item itself, 'My Home’s North Side', is presented not simply as a subject view but as a work tied to Takeda’s life and practice in Oaxaca. The museum’s wording links the artist’s residence there with his role in supporting the local print scene, suggesting that the artwork belongs to a broader exchange between artistic production and the community around it.
Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, a museum devoted to print culture, often uses its collection posts to highlight individual works and the contexts behind them. In this case, the institution’s attention turns from the object in the collection to the geography and artistic networks surrounding it, with Oaxaca described as a place shaped by print workshops and galleries.
No exhibition dates, public programme, or gallery venue are given in the post. The museum’s message functions instead as a concise collection spotlight, pairing Takeda’s work with a brief account of his ties to Oaxaca and the city’s reputation within printmaking. The feature concludes with the museum’s identification of the work as Takeda Shinzaburo’s 'My Home’s North Side'.
