Mikio Watanabe

Birthplace: Yokohama

Education: A graduate of Ecole des Beaux Arts in Tokyo, Watanabe was two years later honoured by admission to Atelier 17, Paris.

Career: Watanabe had mastered the mezzotint process by 1983 and has since created over 90 mezzotints, each featuring his model, and wife, Yuriko.

Of his art Watanabe has written: "My works are an effort to capture with sincerity the beauty that is manifest in nature."