Timeline

1927

Born: Deluth, Minnesota

1946 - 1948

Stationed in Sasebo, an American navy base in Japan

1950 - 1952

Stationed in Sasebo, an American navy base in Japan

1952

Returned to Japan as a missionary of the Lutheran Church traveling extensively selling Bibles door-to-door

1958

Resigned as a missionary and settled in Gifu Prefecture where he returned to art where he made oil paintings and watercolors and attracted attention in local art exhibitions

1963

Moved to Kyoto and became interested in woodblock prints

2007

Died: March 24, 2007 in Kanazawa, Japan

Karhu mostly carved and printed himself. His subjects are renowned for their depiction of traditional Japan - wooden houses, tile rooftops, decorative lanterns, and oil-paper umbrellas – evoking the essence of Japanese life and architecture, mostly of the old town of Kyoto. He possessed a talent for creating a mood, with such images as a soft shaft of sunlight filtering into a courtyard, light rain falling in a quite lane at dusk, or bright moonlight illuminating a mossy garden. His artwork is as popular with Japanese as it is with foreigners; it depicts the soul of Japan as Japanese like to think of it and as Westerners like to imagine it.