Can someone identify the artist?
 

I have been given a few paintings and a silk tapestry from a wealthy friend who got them as he traveled in Japan. He had no idea who the artist was but suggested I find out and insure them because he said they were pretty valuable.

Can anyone who reads Japanese help?

Can you show some of the entire piece of art?

I will upload some full pics tonight when I get home. Thanks for you help!!!

Impossibility;)

Why is it impossible? Too blurry?

I had someone over at another forum claim the first pic was someone with the surname Ishikawa if that helps.

The first red seal reads 石川之印 (ishikawa no in, meaning: the Seal of Ishikawa).
I doubt this is a pen name.

The last seal and sig reads 佑岩, and in Chinese 佑 means blessed, which would give "blessed rock". I think that is 雅号 (pen name), and his real name is (possibly) Ishikawa.

Reason is simple: 朱印　(seal in intaglio) is usually used for surname (姓名印), while the 白印 (seal in relief) is used for 雅号印 (pen name seal). Together they represent balance of forces Yin and Yang.　Another thing is that the sig. on the work reads 佑岩, which further proves that this is pen name (no calligrapher signs his work with his last name).

Second (middle ) pic. is a print (imho) so forget about it.

Lastly, 佑岩 would suggest a guy. The handwriting would also lead me to a conclusion that this is a man's writing.

The top seal on the last picture is too blury, you need to make a better picture.
It is possible it has his full name on it, which means that two kanji on the right hand side are his first name, still, the pic is bit too blury to read it.　

It is also highly possible that 石川 and 佑岩 are two different people, especially that btheir sigs do not match and there is no consistancy in seals (but that is not an absolute rule). Another thing is that I am looking at the name seal on the last pic and i cannot see any kanji that would even remotely resemble 石川 (right hand side bottom is i think 印, and top left might be 清, but i am not sure). Are you sure there is no other seal under the 石川之印 on the first picture?

Wow thanks for the info. I have looked all over the web trying to find who exactly painted this but there are many artists with that surname. Like Koji Ishikawa, Kinichiro Ishikawa, Tadashi Ishikawa, Toraji, etc. I was wondering if anyone can get more specific.

By the way thanks to any who are trying to help, I appreciate it immensely.

sorry i added some more info to my post.

you sure there is no other seal under the 石川 one on the first picture?
you won't be able to determine an artist without his pen name, and that should be revealed by the seal below the first one. His sig reads 石川 and some flip flop that could be 書　(written by), which is usually used on calligraphy under the sig, but it does not look like 書 in cursive or any other script to me.

I am going to take better pictures this evening and then post them. Full shots of the paintings. The 2nd pic is actually a painted silk tapestry, very very pretty one at that.

ryuuri, I cannot say how much I appreciate your help. May god bless you.

yup, better pictures will probably solve the mystery, and you're welcome. :)

i am looking at the second picture and the unnatural ink blur (ink blurs differently on the paper) would suggest that actually someone wrote on silk, still it does look like a print to me, but maybe its the low quality pic. causing this.

[devil's advocate] Where in Japan did your wealthy friend get those pieces? If he doesn't know who did them, how does he believe them to be quite valuable? [/devil's advocate]

We had someone here in the past trying to pass off prints as the real deal and it didn't sit well. Some forum members took time to research and help out that other time and I was annoyed all their time was wasted on crap someone wanted to sell on eBay....

i can tell you already that if that first work does not have a second seal it's worthless in my opinion. It points at two things:

1. If a piece of calligraphy written by the greatest master of them all has no seal on it, it has no value (money wise, as it is still priceless for us, calligraphers). And in this case, there should be two seals (name seal cannot be pressed by itself, as intaglio seal is too heavy to exist on its own)

2. The artist does not really know the art of calligraphy if he does not know the most basic rules of pressing seals, which in calligraphy are equally important as the work itself, the sig, and the framing.

I understand the skepticism but my friend (actually my wife's friend) was a Regional VP for Motorola in the 90's. I do not know where he got them but I assure everyone that I am above board and not selling these on ebay. I am open to sell some to a good buyer though.

I can also assure everyone that these do not look like prints at all. They seem to be actual watercolors (aside from the silk piece) and not reproductions.

If I recall correctly he was given most of these as a gift for his wedding. unfortunately I have no contact info for him since he moved to California and lives on his boat. Sucks but there it is.

My main interest in this is to get a value for them so I can insure them.

Some more pics
 

I took a few more pics of the paintings. Hope these are better.

Again thanks for the help.

As I said before, i need clear pictures of the seals to be able to read them.