Urushibara Mokuchu (漆原木虫) (1888–1953), given name Yoshijirō, was a Japanese print maker known for his many black-and-white prints of horses. He lived in Europe for many years, and exhibited in the United States after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Biography

Urushibara Yoshijirô was born in Tokyo in 1888 and studied '' mokuhan'' as a young man. In 1908, aged nineteen, he travelled to London, where he was among a group of woodblock print craftsmen who demonstrated printing techniques at the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition of 1910. He remained in London after the exhibition, restoring prints, making reproductions of prints, and mounting scrolls at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. In 1912, the British Museum employed Urushibara to make accurate copies of a famous Chinese scroll painting by

Gu Kaizhi Gu Kaizhi (; c. 344–406), courtesy name Changkang (), was a Chinese painter and politician. He was a celebrated painter of ancient China.Cihai: Page 1846. He was born in Wuxi and first painted at Nanjing in 364. In 366, he became an officer (Da ...

(c. 344–406 AD), the ''

Admonitions Scroll The Admonitions Scroll is a Chinese narrative painting on silk that is traditionally ascribed to Gu Kaizhi (''ca''. 345 – ''ca''. 406), but which modern scholarship regards as a 5th to 8th century work that may or may not be a copy of an origi ...

''. After the museum job, Urushibara worked independently, becoming a significant member of a growing group of Japanese artists based in London, including

Yoshio Markino was a Japanese artist and author who from 1897 - 1942 was based in London. Biography He was born in the town of Koromo, Toyota, Aichi, Japan, at birth being named Makino Heijirō. He was the youngest of 3 children, Yoshi (the oldest daughter) ...

and Ryuson Chuso Matsuyama. He collaborated with English and French designers on prints—notably with

Frank Brangwyn Sir Frank William Brangwyn (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer. Brangwyn was an artistic jack-of-all-trades. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced des ...

. He carved and printed many prints from Frank Brangwyn's designs of horses, landscapes, and flowers. In a portfolio called "Bruges" (1919) he reproduced several of Brangwyn's watercolours as large woodblock prints. Especially interesting within the Bruges portfolio is ''The Bridge at Predikheren'', which is published in two different sizes. The artists applied this practice to six other subjects during their period of collaboration: ''The Beguinage, Bruges'', of c. 1919; ''Ruins of a Roman Bridge over the Loire River'', also of 1919; ''The Devil's Bridge'', c. 1924; ''Messina, Life Among the Ruins'', c. 1927; ''Outside the Walls of Avignon'', c. 1927; and ''The Dance of Death Bridge at Lucerne'', c. 1928. It is unclear whether the smaller prints are contemporaneous to the larger impressions, and archival materials suggest that they were made later. The purpose of the scaling exercise is similarly ambiguous. Hilary Chapman hypothesises that the popularity of the subjects may have motivated Brangwyn to commission the smaller prints. In 1924, Urushibara produced with Brangwyn the portfolio ''Ten Woodcuts by Yoshijirô Urushibara after Designs by Frank Brangwyn.'' The two artists worked together until Urushibara's departure for Japan in 1940. Urushibara was influential in the English revival of colour woodblock printing in the 1920s and 1930s. At first he carved and printed to other artists' designs, but later printed many of his own designs. He took up the 'art name' of Mokuchu (木虫), which appears on some of his print seals. The American artist Andrew Kay Womrath studied printmaking under Urushibara, and Urushibara bought several of Womrath's works. Later Urushibara donated some of these works to the British Museum. Urushibara returned to Japan in 1934. After 1945 he exhibited in the United States

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mokuchu, Urushibara 1888 births 1953 deaths 20th-century Japanese painters