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MAEKAWA SEMPAN (1888
-1960) |
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Born in Kyoto in 1888.
He was first fascinated with the woodblock prints by |
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Minami Kunzo and this
led him into the world of hanga. In 1919 his work was |
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exhibited in the 1st
Exhibition of the Sosaku-hanga Association. |
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His long quest for
Sosaku-hanga, always marked by the warmth of his sincere |
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personality, was carried
on until he died at the age of 72 in 1960. |
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He is now counted among
the three giants of Sosaku-hanga together with Onchi |
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and Hiratsuka. |
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HIRATSUKA UN'ICHI (1895
-1997) |
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Born in Matsue City
in 1895. On the advice of Ishii Hakutei, his master in the fine |
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arts, he learned the
carving techniques under Igami Bonkotsu, a renowned carver. |
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Hiratsuka himself was
later called a master carver. .In 1921 his work was first |
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exhibited in the 3rd
Exhibition of the Sosaku-hanga Association. |
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Throughout his long
career he never spared any effort to promote this genre of art. |
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He not only worked
as a lecturer at the government academy, Tokyo School of Fine |
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Arts, but he also started
lectures and workshops throughout the country, thus cul- |
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tivating the soil on
which grew many talents. Among them we find Munakata Shiko |
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as well as Azechi Umetaro,
Maeda Masao and Shimozawa Kihachiro..The latter three |
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were called the three
outstanding talents in the Hiratsuka school. |
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Un'ichi's passion for
hanga never waned until his death at the age of 102 in 1997. |
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|
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.Hiroshima Shintaro (1889 - 1951) |
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.Hiroshima Shintaro was born in Tokushima City. He entered
Tokyo School |
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.of the Fine Arts and majored in the Japanese style painting.
During his |
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.student days he also learned the Western style in Hakuba-kai
Institute. |
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.He started to make prints in early Taisho period (1912
- 1926) |
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.and joined to establish The Japan Hanga Club with Hasegawa
Kiyoshi and |
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.Nagase Yoshiro. In later years his devotion was turned
to Nihonga, the |
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Japnese style painting
under the artist name Kouho. |
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ODA KAZUMA (1882-1956
) |
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Oda Kazuma started
his career, in his teens, as an artisan of lithographs. |
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In his twenties, some
of his watercolors were exhibited in the government |
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sponsored Bunten Exhibition.
He was introduced to Ishii Hakutei and joined |
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the sosaku-hanga magazine
circle 'Hosun', where he published lithographs |
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drawn and printed by
himself. |
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After the publication
of the two series, 'Views of Tokyo'(1916) and 'Views |
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of Osaka' (1917), each
consisting of 20 lithographs, he won great fame as |
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the artist of lithographs. |
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In 1918 , together
with Yamamoto Kanae, he became an establishing member |
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of the Japan Sosaku-hanga
Association. He is one of the giants who nourished |
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and developed this
movement. |
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.FUJIMORI SHIZUO (1891-1943 ) |
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1910 |
Inspired by the Artist
Aoki Shigeru, he moved to Tokyo, entered Hakuba- |
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kai Art Institute,
and came to Know Tanaka Kyokichi and Onchi Koshiro. |
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1911 |
He attended Official
Prep Courses for Tokyo School of Fine Arts but he |
|
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learned much more through
the occasional visits to the celebrated |
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artist and print maker
Takehisa Yumeji, to whom Onchi introduced him. |
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1914 |
He joined Tanaka Kyokichi
and Onchi Koshiro for the publication of the |
|
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print portfolio series
'Tsukuhae' |
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1918 |
He helped to establish
Japan Sosaku-hanga Association. |
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1923 |
and also joined the
group publishing 'Poems and Prints' |
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1928-32 |
Together with Onchi,
Hiratsuka and others he worked for 'One hundred |
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Views of New Tokyo' |
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1931 |
He joined others to
establish Japan Hanga Association. |
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1934 |
'One hundred Views
of New Tokyo' was published in the complete form. |
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| . |
ONCHI KOSHIRO (1891-1955) |
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In1909 when he was acquainted with
Takehisa Yumeji he was deeply impressed with |
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both his personality and his works. |
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In1914, while he attended Tokyo
School of Fine Arts, he started the hanga magazine |
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'Tsukuhae'. together with Tanaka Kyokichi
and Fujimori Shizuo. |
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In 1918, with Yamamoto Kanae and
other artists, he helped to establish the Sosaku- |
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hanga Association. In1929, he joined
the project for publishing 'One hundred Views |
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of New Tokyo' |
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He always played a major role in
the production and the promotion of Sosaku-hanga, |
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which duly brought him the reputation
as one of the three giants in this genre of art. |
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In the period from1939 to1950,
he held a private art circle in his house, inviting |
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would-be artists of hanga,.which he called
'Ichimoku Kai' because it was held every |
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first Thursday of the month. |
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Sekino Jun'ichiro, one of the early
members of this circle, recalls that he proposed |
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special sessions for bartering
hanga works among them because he wanted works by |
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Onchi. .Their fruitful results can be
seen in 'Ichimoku Shu vol.I-VI' |
