Charles Wirgman (31 August 1832 - 8 February 1891) was an English artist and

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

, the creator of the ''

Japan Punch The ''Japan Punch'' was a satirical comic magazine and journal that was authored, illustrated and published by English painter and cartoonist Charles Wirgman from 1862 to 1887. The publication reflected the social context of Bakumatsu Yokohama a ...

'' and illustrator in China and

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

-Japan for the ''

Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication i ...

''. Wirgman was the eldest son of Ferdinand Charles Wirgman (1806–57) and brother of

Theodore Blake Wirgman Theodore Blake Wirgman (29 April 1848 – 16 January 1925) was a British painter and etcher who moved to London, studied at the Royal Academy Schools, became a painter of history and genre subjects, and worked as a portrait artist for ''The ...

. He married Ozawa Kane in 1863, and the couple had one son. Wirgman arrived in Japan in 1861 as a correspondent for the ''Illustrated London News'', and resided in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...

from 1861 until his death. He published the first magazine in Japan, the ''Japan Punch'', monthly between 1862 and spring 1887. Like its British namesake, the magazine was written in a humorous, often satirical manner, and was illustrated with Wirgman's cartoons. Wirgman formed a partnership called "Beato & Wirgman, Artists and Photographers" with

Felice Beato Felice Beato (1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia and one of the first war photographers. He is noted for his genre works, ...

from 1864 to 1867. Wirgman again produced illustrations derived from Beato's photographs while Beato photographed some of Wirgman's sketches and other works. Wirgman taught western-style drawing and painting techniques to a number of Japanese artists, possibly including the

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ta ...

artist

Kobayashi Kiyochika was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, best known for his colour woodblock prints and newspaper illustrations. His work documents the rapid modernization and Westernization Japan underwent during the Meiji period (1868–1912) and employs a sense o ...

. From 1865 he had Goseda Yoshimatsu and Kanō Tomonobu as his pupils. In 1866 he taught

Takahashi Yuichi was a Japanese painter, noted for his pioneering work in developing the ''yōga'' (Western-style) art movement in late 19th-century Japanese painting.There were many Japanese painters who tried Western painting and Western style painting in the ...

, sponsoring his work for the International Exposition of 1867. He also was briefly an English tutor, most notably to the future Admiral Tōgō, then a young cadet.Clements, Jonathan. ''Admiral Togo: Nelson of the East'' (2010) p.39 In the 1860s, he accompanied British envoy Sir

Ernest Satow Sir Ernest Mason Satow, (30 June 1843 – 26 August 1929), was a British scholar, diplomat and Japanologist. Satow is better known in Japan than in Britain or the other countries in which he served, where he was known as . He was a key fig ...

on a number of journeys around Japan as described in Satow's ''Diplomat in Japan''. Wirgman's grave is in the Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery.

References

* ''The Genius of Mr. Punch: Life in Yokohama's Foreign Settlement: Charles Wirgman and the Japan Punch, 1862-1887'', compiled and annotated by Jozef Rogala, Translations by Hitomi Yamashita, Yurindo Co. Ltd, Yokohama 2004.

External links

Japan and the Illustrated London News
- lecture to the Japan Society by Terry Bennett. 1832 births 1891 deaths British expatriates in Japan British people of the Second Opium War English cartoonists Culture in Yokohama History of mass media in Japan Japanese cartoonists {{japan-bio-stub

See also

References

External links