Takahashi Shōtei

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

Hiroaki Takahashi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1871. As a young artist he was given the artistic name Shotei by his uncle, Matsumoto Fuko, under whose tutelage he was apprenticing. 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. 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. 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. There is a persistent rumor that he died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima but this is incorrect.

His works are held in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the British Museum, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the National Museum of Asian Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Arizona State University Art Museum, the Brunnier Art Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art, and the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Gallery

File:Tonan hakkei no uchi, Shinagawa by Takahashi Shōtei.jpg, ''Shinagawa'', from the series "8 views of the South of the Capital", 1921
File:Shironeko by Takahashi Hiroaki.jpg, ''White Cat'', 1924
File:Daikon to Nezumi by Takahashi Hiroaki.jpg, ''Rats and Radishes'', 1926
File:Bridge over waterfall.jpg, ''Bridge over waterfall'', between 1924 and 1927
File:Junks in Inatori Bay, Izu by Takahashi Shōtei.jpg, ''Junks in Inatori Bay, Izu'', 1926
File:Takahashi nude-cat.jpg, ''Playing with a cat'', 1930
File:Queensland Art Gallery - Joy of Museums - "Figure with Snow Falling" by Takahashi Hiroaki.jpg, ''Figure with Snow Falling''

See also

* Hasui Kawase

References

Further reading

*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.
*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,
*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,

External links

Shotei's Cats MFA.org Museum of Fine Arts - Boston, MA, Search on Shotei Shotei.com Continuing analysis of Shotei's Catalogue with emphasis on pre and post Great Kanto Earthquake versions.Shin hanga — ''Viewing Japanese Prints'', by John FiorilloHiroaki Takahashi Shotei's Cats

{{DEFAULTSORT:Takahashi, Hiroaki
1871 births
1945 deaths
Shin hanga artists
Artists from Tokyo
19th-century Japanese artists
20th-century Japanese artists
19th-century printmakers
20th-century Japanese printmakers