Takahashi Shōtei

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Takahashi Shōtei
高橋松亭
Snow on Ayase river (1915), now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum[1]
Born1871
Tokyo, Japan
Died11 February 1945
NationalityJapanese
Known for
  • woodblock prints
  • co-founder of the Japan Youth Painting Society

Takahashi Shōtei (高橋松亭), born Hiroaki (1871 – 11 February 1945) was a 20th-century Japanese woodblock artist in the shinsaku-hanga and later shin-hanga art movements.

Biography[edit]

Hiroaki Takahashi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1871.[2] As a young artist he was given the artistic name Shotei by his uncle, Matsumoto Fuko, under whose tutelage he was apprenticing.[2] When he was 16 years old, he started a job with the Imperial Household Department of Foreign Affairs, where he copied the designs of foreign ceremonial objects.[2] As with many Japanese woodblock artists over his lifetime he signed his work with various names and worked for several publishing companies. After studying art, Shotei and Terazaki Kogyo founded the Japan Youth Painting Society in 1889. In 1907, as a successful artist, he was recruited by Watanabe Shōzaburō to contribute shinsaku-hanga (souvenir prints) in Japan.[3] Watanabe helped to fulfill the Western demand for newly-styled ukiyo-e woodblock prints which would be similar to familiar historical masters of that genre, especially Hiroshige. In about 1921 Shotei added the artistic name of Hiroaki. In 1923 the Great Kanto earthquake (and subsequent fire) destroyed Watanabe's facilities; this included all woodblocks. Thus, Shotei recreated prior designs destroyed in the Great Kanto earthquake and produced new woodblocks in the shin-hanga style. Shotei died of pneumonia on February 11, 1945.[2] There is a persistent rumor that he died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima but this is incorrect.[2]

His works are held in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the British Museum,[4] the Princeton University Art Museum,[5] the Museum of Fine Arts Boston,[6] the University of Michigan Museum of Art,[7] the National Museum of Asian Art,[8] the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,[9] the Arizona State University Art Museum,[10] the Brunnier Art Museum,[11] the Honolulu Museum of Art,[12] and the Saint Louis Art Museum.[13]

Gallery[edit]

  • Shinagawa, from the series "8 views of the South of the Capital", 1921
    Shinagawa, from the series "8 views of the South of the Capital", 1921
  • White Cat, 1924
    White Cat, 1924
  • Rats and Radishes, 1926
    Rats and Radishes, 1926
  • Bridge over waterfall, between 1924 and 1927
    Bridge over waterfall, between 1924 and 1927
  • Junks in Inatori Bay, Izu, 1926
    Junks in Inatori Bay, Izu, 1926
  • Playing with a cat, 1930
    Playing with a cat, 1930
  • Figure with Snow Falling
    Figure with Snow Falling

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Snow on Ayase river, Takahashi Hiroaki, 1915 - Rijksmuseum". Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
  2. ^ a b c d e "All About Takahashi Shōtei". Shotei.com. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
  3. ^ Shimizu, Hisao The Publisher Watanabe Shozaburo and the Birth of Shin-Hanga p24
  4. ^ "print | British Museum". The British Museum. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  5. ^ "Moonlight at Ōhashi Bridge (2011-97)". artmuseum.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  6. ^ "Mount Fuji from near Ômuro (Ômuro fukin)". collections.mfa.org. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  7. ^ "Exchange: Evening Scene in Tokyo: Woman with Umbrella on Bridge". exchange.umma.umich.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  8. ^ "Evening Snow at Ikegami". Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  9. ^ "Foot of Mount Ashitaka | LACMA Collections". collections.lacma.org. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  10. ^ Watanabe Shōzaburō; 渡辺 庄三郎 (1932), Night Rain at Asagaya, retrieved 2021-02-03
  11. ^ "Iowa State Collections - Iowa State University". umsm003.its.iastate.edu. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  12. ^ "Bridge Scene in Winter | Honolulu Museum of Art". honolulumuseum.org. Retrieved 2021-02-03.
  13. ^ "The Combined Fleet on Night Watch, from the Series "Picture Scroll of Distinguished Service"". Saint Louis Art Museum. Retrieved 2021-02-03.

Further reading[edit]

  • Shimizu, Hisao The Publisher Watanabe Shozaburo and the Birth of Shin-Hanga in Water and Shadow: Kawase Hasui and Japanese Landscape Prints edited by Kendall Brown, Hotei Publishing, 2014. ISBN 9789004284654
  • Shimizu, Hisao Syotei (Hiroaki) Takahashi: His Life and Works, Folk Museum of Ota City, Tokyo, 2005.
  • Smith, Lawrence. The Japanese Print Since 1900, Harper & Row Publishers Inc., New York 1983, ISBN 0064301303
  • Smith, Lawrence. Modern Japanese Prints 1912–1989. New York, London, Paris: Cross River Press, 1994.
  • Till, Barry. The New Print Movement in Japan. Pomegranate Communications, Reprint 2007, ISBN 978-0764940392

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Takahashi Shōtei.
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