Biography Japanese Artists


Bartlett, Charles William 1860-1940
Born in Bridgeport, England. He studied painting at the Royal Academy in London and in Paris. He is known in Europe for his oils and watercolours and etchings of scenes in Brittany and Holland. From December 1913 he travelled and painted in India and China before arriving in Japan in 1915. In 1916 Watanabe Shozaburo produced 21 prints from his travel paintings. He left Japan in 1917 to return to England via Hawaii and the USA, but remained in Hawaii for the rest of his life. According to Watanabe ‘s records he made a total of 38 prints. Most of his blocks were destroyed during the fire following the great 1923 earthquake, other blocks were scored after Bartlett ‘s death so that no further prints could be made.
 
Bairei, Kono 1844-1895
Bairei kono was born in Kyoto and was almost his entire life active in this former imperial town of Japan. He studied the classical Japanese style painting technique. He opened his own art school during the 1880. The majority of his work are kacho-e prints, this are prints with birds and flowers. He also made illustrations for books, the most famous one is the ‘Bairei Kacho Gafu” which was published in 1883.
 
Hiroshige, Ando 1797-1858
Born in Edo (Edo is renamed in 1868 into Tokyo) with the given name Ando Tokutaro, his father was a Samurai / Fire-warden. At the age of 12 his parents died, not much is known about his childhood. A year after his parents death he became an apprentice of Toyohiro, an unexceptional master of the Utagawa school of printmaking artist. His artistic surname Utagawa was that of his master and the long and distinguished line of some ninety other Ukiyo-e masters of the Utagawa school. In 1818 the first prints were published under the name Hiroshige. He is known for his wide variety of subjects he painted and printed, among his works “Famous places of the Eastern Capital”, “Fifty Three Stations of the Tokaido road” and “Kiso-Kaido” all these series give us a glimpse of the time he lived in, with designs of higher and lower class people.
 
Hiroshige II Utagawa, Rissho 1829-1869
Hiroshige II was a young print artist named Shigenobu, who married Hiroshige's daughter (either adopted or from his second marriage), Tatsu. Hiroshige intended to make Shigenobu his heir in all matters, but Tatsu and Shigenobu separated. Shigenobu nevertheless began using the name Hiroshige and so is known as Hiroshige II. He also made landscape and Kacho-e prints, but never reached the art skill of Ando Hiroshige.
 
Hokusai Katsushika 1760-1849
Born in Tokyo with the name Tokitaro, at the age of fifteen he started apprenticeship in a woodcut workshop, he had a lot of talent, in his own biography he mentioned that he started drawing sketches and painting on the age of six years. At the age of eighteen he entered the school of Katsukawa Shunsho an Ukiyo-e artist and head of the so-called Katsukawa School.
in 1795, Hokusai changed his Artist name to Shunro. In the years to come he changed his name frequently : Tawaraya Sori, Taito and Iitsu. During these periods he made his “Hokusai Manga” a fifteen volume book collection and some series, “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji”, "One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji" and the “Waterfall series”. He became famous around the world with the print “The Great Wave of the Coast of Kanagawa”.
Constantly seeking to produce better work, he apparently exclaimed on his deathbed, "If I had another five years, even, I could have become a real painter." He died on April 18th 1849 and was buried at the Seikyoji temple in Tokyo.
 
Hyde, Helen 1868-1919
Helen Hyde was born in Lima, New York. She started to study art at the age of twelve years. She entered the Californian School of Design in 1886. Some years later she went to Europe where she studied in Berlin and Paris under Felix Regamey, a painter with a great passion for Japanese art, when she went back to the US she started to make prints in China town San- Francisco. In 1899 she went to Japan to study art and learn more about the Japanese printing techniques, she called Japan her second home. In 1914 she went back permanently to the US. In total she has made 67 different designs, always limited editions and no more then 200 copies
 
Ito, Sozan. 1884-Unknown
Ito Sozan is like Ohara Koson famous for his Kacho prints, they both worked for the same publisher, Watanabe Shozaburo (1919-1926) unlike Ohara Koson, Ito Sozan made also some bijin-ga, bijin means beautiful woman and ga means print.
 
Jacoulet, paul 1902-1960
Paul Jacoulet was born in Paris, his father was send as a teacher to Tokyo, with Paul at the age of 4 years. He is an “self-taught” artist, and there are 166 known prints made by him. He also published all his prints by himself, with the exception of a few published by Kato Junji in 1934, these were carved by Yamagishi Kazue and Maeda Kentaro. Subject include South Sea Islanders, Mongolians, Koreans and Ainu as well as Japanese. His decorative colourful style is a hybride of Oriantal and Occidental features.
Kawase, Hasui 1883-1957
Kawase was born in Tokyo and was given the name Bunjiro. After many years of study he started to work for Watanabe Shozaburo, Watanabe published over 100 designes of Hasui before the great Kanto earthquake in 1923. All the blocks used for the prints designed before the great Kanto earthquake were destroyed by the fire following the earthquake. In total he made well over 400 landscape designs, most of them were published by Watanabe. Hasui also worked for other publisherd like Kawaguchi in 1929 and Doi in 1931. In 1956 he was named a National Living Treasure, he died in 1957.
 
Tsuchiya, Koitsu 1870-1949
Koistu was born near Hamamatsu in 1870 and was given the name Koichi, at the age of 15 he went to Tokyo to study, he became an apprentice of the carver Matsuzaki who worked for Kobayashi Kiyochika. Kiyochika took him inot his home were he studied for an other 19 years. He designed woodblocks during the Sino-Japanese war, 1894-1895. Later he worked for Watanabe Shozaburo where he designed figurative landscapes moku-hanga. He also made works for Kawaguchi and Doi from 1932.
Koson, Ohara (Shoson) 1877-1945
His original name was Ohara Matao and born in Kanazawa. Studied with Shijo-Style painter Suzuki Kason. Under the name Koson made Russo-Japanese War prints in 1904 and many small Kacho-e prints published by Matsuki Heikichi of Diakokya for export. In 1912 changed his name to Shoson and dedicated himself to painting but may have designed a few more prints for Daikokuya under the name koson. In 1926 resumed Kacho Hanga production. Published chiefly by Watanabe Shozaburo but also by Nishinomiya Yosaku and Sakai-Kawaguchi. Hundreds of Shoson bird prints exported to the US. He used the name Hoson on works published by Sakai-Kawaguchi.
 
Torri, Kotondo 1900-1976
Torri Kotondo born in the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo with Saito Akira as his original name. At the age of 15 he was adopted by the Torri family as son of Tori Kiyotada and given the name Genjin (Kotondo). He worked on Kabuki posters, bill boards etc. His works contain moku-hanga bijin-ga prints some of them cut by the famous carver Maede and published by Sakai-Kawaguchi or Kawaguchi. He made a total of 21 Bijin-ga prints.
Lum, Bertha 1869-1954
Born in Iowa, USA, inspired by Japanese fairy tales and the art of Japanese masters as Hokusai and Hiroshige she made her first trip to Japan 1903. In 1912 she had mastered the complex Japanese printmaking techniques. Her style is a blend of Eastern and Western influence, but standing out in the East and West, her style is unique and received wide international acclaim.
 
Shotei / Takahashi, Hiroaki 1871-1945
Born in the Asukusa district of Tokyo under the name Takahashi Katsutaro. He used the artist name Shotei from 1907-1922 and Hiroaki or Komei after 1922. He studied Japanese style painting with his uncle Matsumoto Fuko. He organized in 1891 with Terazaki Kogyo the youth Painting Society (Nihon Seinen Kaiga Kyokai). He began designing woodblocks for Watanabe Shozaburo for export in 1907 and produced about 500 designs for September 1923. All the blocks for the prints were destroyed in the fire which swept through the city after the great Kanto earthquake. After the earthquake he resumed working for Watanabe and created an other 250 designs. He died on the 11th of February in 1945 after having pneumonia. His grave is the church yard of Jusho-in.
 
Takahashi, Biho 1873-unknown
Biho was born in 1873, not much is known about this Artist, he made various Kacho designs.
 
Yoshida, Hiroshi 1876-1950
Hiroshi was born in the city of Kurume, in Kyushu and was a 20th century Japanese Painter and woodblock printmaker. At age 19 he was sent to Kyoto to study under Tamura Skoryu, a well known teacher of western style painting. He then studied under Koyama Shotaro, in Tokyo, for another three years. He is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the Shin-Hanga style, and is known especially for his excellent landscape prints. Yoshida traveled widely, and was particularly known for his images of non-Japanese subjects done in traditional woodblock style, including the Taj Mahal, the Swiss Alps, the Grand Canyon, and other National Parks in the US.
 
Yoshimoto, Gesso 1881-1936
Yoshimoto Gesso made prints with landscapes and Kacho, prints with birds and flowers. He also made some prints with boats and sceneries. His prints were published by Hasagawa and/or Nishinomiya.
Yoshitoshi, (Tsukioka) Taiso 1839-1892
Yoshitoshi Tsukioka Taiso given name was Yonejiro, he had an unpleasant youth, his mother was the mistress of his father and he was raised by his uncle. With the age of 14, he made his first woodblock, the triptych of the naval battle of Dannoura in 1185. He made different series which became very famous, “The Ghost series”, “28 Famous Murders with Poems” , “32 Aspects of Women” and the very famous series “100 Aspects of the Moon”. The time he was living in was the time of change, it was the end of the Shoguns and more power to the Emperor, this went not without battle and poverty, in his fifties his financial situation went better. Yoshitoshi is considered to be one of the greatest artists of the Meiji era.
 
Zeshin, Shibata 1807-1891
Zeshin was born in Ryogoku, a district of Edo (former name of Tokyo).At the of twelve he was an apprentice to Furumitsu Kanya, a famous gold lacquer craftsman. In the year 1822 at the age of sixteen he became a student of Suzuki Nanrei. Later he became a student of Utagawa Kuniyoshi. In 1879 he became a member of the Ryuichi Society which later became the Japan Art Society. During his life he signed and sealed his works with a variety of different names and seals, all chosen with great care. He is famous for his paintings, prints and his lacquer work. One of his most famous designs is the two flying crows against a red sunrise.