Takahashi Shōtei

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

Biography
Snow on Ayase river (1915), now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum[1]

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 Shōzaburō Watanabe to contribute to the Shin Hanga ("New Prints") art movement in Japan. Watanabe helped to fulfill the Western demand for Ukiyoe woodblock prints which would be similar to familiar historical masters of that genre, including 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 Shin Hanga woodblocks. Thus, Shotei recreated prior designs destroyed in the Great Kanto earthquake and also continued to produce new woodblocks. 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] Since Watanabe produced artwork for Western collectors there are numerous copies of Shotei woodblocks in Western museums including the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.

See also

References
  • 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
  1. "Snow on Ayase river, Takahashi Hiroaki, 1915 - Rijksmuseum". Rijksmuseum. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
  2. "All About Takahashi Shōtei". Shotei.com. Retrieved 2019-02-07.
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