Takahashi Shōtei Explained

Takahashi Shōtei
Native Name:	高橋松亭
Native Name Lang:	Japanese
Birth Date:	1871
Birth Place:	Tokyo, Japan
Death Date:	11 February 1945
Nationality:	Japanese
Known For:	woodblock prints co-founder of the Japan Youth Painting Society

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.^[1] As a young artist he was given the artistic name Shotei by his uncle, Matsumoto Fuko, under whose tutelage he was apprenticing.^[1] 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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[1] There is a persistent rumor that he died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima but this is incorrect.^[1]

His works are held in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the British Museum,^[3] the Princeton University Art Museum,^[4] the Museum of Fine Arts Boston,^[5] the University of Michigan Museum of Art,^[6] the National Museum of Asian Art,^[7] the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,^[8] the Arizona State University Art Museum, the Brunnier Art Museum,^[9] the Honolulu Museum of Art,^[10] and the Saint Louis Art Museum.^[11]

See also

• Hasui Kawase

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 Fiorillo
• Hiroaki Takahashi Shotei's Cats
• Shotei's works in the collection of the National Gallery of Art

Notes and References

1. Web site: All About Takahashi Shōtei . Shotei.com . 2019-02-07.
2. Shimizu, Hisao The Publisher Watanabe Shozaburo and the Birth of Shin-Hanga p24
3. Web site: print British Museum. 2021-02-03. The British Museum. en.
4. Web site: Moonlight at Ōhashi Bridge (2011-97). 2021-02-03. artmuseum.princeton.edu. en.
5. Web site: Mount Fuji from near Ômuro (Ômuro fukin). 2021-02-03. collections.mfa.org. en.
6. Web site: Exchange: Evening Scene in Tokyo: Woman with Umbrella on Bridge. 2021-02-03. exchange.umma.umich.edu.
7. Web site: Evening Snow at Ikegami. 2021-02-03. Freer Gallery of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. en-US.
8. Web site: Foot of Mount Ashitaka LACMA Collections. 2021-02-03. collections.lacma.org.
9. Web site: Iowa State Collections - Iowa State University. 2021-02-03. umsm003.its.iastate.edu.
10. Web site: Bridge Scene in Winter Honolulu Museum of Art. 2021-02-03. honolulumuseum.org.
11. Web site: The Combined Fleet on Night Watch, from the Series "Picture Scroll of Distinguished Service". 2021-02-03. Saint Louis Art Museum. en-US.