Yamamoto Kanae (Artist)

Self-portrait, 1915

Fischer, 1904

Yamamoto Kanae ( Japanese 山 本 鼎 , born October 24, 1882 in Okazaki ; died October 8, 1946 ) was a Japanese painter and graphic artist. With his woodcut "Fischer" he founded the art of the "creative woodcut", the Sōsaku hanga .

life and work

Yamamoto began training as a traditional woodcut tailor in the workshop of Sakurai Torakichi in 1893, and the desire to become a painter grew stronger. In 1902 he began training at the Tōkyō bijutsu gakkō art college in the department of western painting. In 1904 Yosano Tekkan published in the poetry magazine Myōjō, which he edited, Yamamoto's woodcut "Fischer" ( 漁夫 , Gyofu ): that was the first woodcut in Japan that - in contrast to the classic ukiyo-e - was not only designed by the artist himself, but had also been cut myself.

After completing his studies, he founded the art magazine Hōsun in 1907 with painter friends Ishii Hakutei , Morita Tsunetomo (1881-1932) and others, and published other woodcuts there. In 1912 Yamamoto went to France and continued his education at the École des beaux arts in Paris . He stayed there until 1916 and visited Sweden , Germany and Czechoslovakia before returning to Japan via Russia .

After his return, he was hardly active as an artist, but in 1918 he founded the woodcut artists' association Nihon sōsaku hanga kyōkai ( 日本 創作 版画 協会 ), which he expanded in 1931 to form the broader Nihon hanga kyōkai ( 日本 版画 協会 ).

In 1917 he was a member of the original of Okakura Kakuzō founded Nihon bijutsu-in ( 日本美術院 ) and worked in the Department of Western painting, but this position was in 1920. In 1922 he was one of the founders of the artists' association Shun'yō-kai ( 春陽会 ), In 1935 he became an advisor to the state art exhibition Teikoku bijutsu tenrankai ( 帝国 美術展 覧 会 ), in connection with this he withdrew from the Shun'yō-kai in 1943 .

Inspired by his stay in Europe, Yamamoto opened an art school in 1919, far from the big cities, in Ueda in Nagano prefecture , in order to encourage the local population to occupy themselves with art. He advocated the idea of ​​"informal painting" ( 自由 画 , Jiyūga ) and in 1921 established the "School of informal painting" ( 自由 学園 , Jiyū gakuen ).

photos

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  On deck, 1912

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  Moscow, 1914

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  Cow, 1915

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  Breton, 1920

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  Sotobo Peninsula

Remarks

1. ↑ Hōsun ( 方寸 ), literally "square inch", means "a little bit" here.

literature

• Tokyo National Museum (ed.): Kindai Nihon no bijutsu . 1984.
• Laurence P. Roberts: A Dictionary of Japanese Artists. Weatherhill, 1976. ISBN 0-8348-0113-2 .
• Statler, Oliver: Yamamoto Kanae In: Modern Japanese Prints: An Art reborn. Tuttle, 1959. 13th edition 1976. ISBN 0-8048-0406-0 -

Web links

Commons : Yamamoto Kanae  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Yamamoto Museum in Ueda

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Yamamoto is the family name, Kanae the first name.