Edutainment > Hagiwara Hideo - born 1913

Mount Fuji
Red Fuji - Thirty-six Mt. Fuji
copyright Hagiwara Hideo

Hagiwara Hideo is one of the most successful and internationally best established Japanese print artists of the second half of the twentieth century. With his constant search for new themes, his main emphasis on abstraction and his experiments with a mix of different printing techniques, he is typical for the artist generation after world war II.

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Graduating in Oil Painting

Hagiwara Hideo was born in Yamanishi prefecture. His father had worked for the Japanese government and Hideo spent his youth in Manchuria and Korea. These countries/regions were then occupied by Japan since the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese war.

He returned to Japan and graduated in 1938 from Tokyo University of Fine Arts. At that time he became familiar with woodblock printmaking by attended one of the famous classes held by sosaku hanga artist Hiratsuka Unichi.

International Career After World War II

Sosaku Hanga
Man in Armor - 13
copyright Hagiwara Hideo

After the great Pacific war Hideo Hagiwara was severely ill for several years (tuberculosis). From 1950 on he began to make woodblock prints, first in a figurative sosaku hanga style. Later he turned to abstract art. This was the style that made him famous all over the world. Hagiwara Hideo became one of the foremost known and internationally acknowledged Japanese post-war printmakers and painters.

The international breakthrough for Hagiwara came with several international print biennales like the ones in Tokyo, Krakow, Ljubljana, Banska and Lugano. He was awarded with prizes at several of these shows.

His international importance was underlined when he taught in 1967 at Oregon State University, USA.

Figurative versus Abstract

There was never any precise change from figurative to abstract style in his career. In 1965 the artist created an unusual series of woodblock prints with themes from the Greek mythology. By this time he had already started with his abstract line several years ago.

The Technique of Hagiwara Hideo

Hagiwara Hideo worked in all kinds of techniques. Woodblock prints were however dominant. Towards the later phase of his life he used often a mix of different printing methods.

It is reported that he carved/scratched his abstract images directly on the block/plate without making any sketches before. Such an approach is of course very time-effective and allows the artist to produce a large number of works within a short time span.

Shiko Munakata was also a master in this "fast-fast" work style. There was yet another method which Hagiwara Hideo had learned from Munakata: the idea of printing on verso of the paper, a technique he applied every now and then.

The British Museum: 100 Views of Mount Fuji

Munakata Shiko - Biography
Nude
copyright Hagiwara Hideo

Among the many honors we want to mention just one, an exhibition of the British Museum in 2001 with 100 paintings and prints depicting Mount Fuji from three centuries. Hagiwara Hideo was selected as the representative for contemporary Japanese art. See the official announcement of this important exhibition.

"The exhibition 100 Views of Mount Fuji (11 May - 29 July 2001) explored a wide range of manifestations of the mountain in Japanese art, as portrayed in 100 works by painters and print designers from the seventeenth century to the present, including Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), Munakata Shiko (1903-75) and Hagiwara Hideo (born 1913)."

Abstract or Figurative, Mount Fuji was actually one of the favorite subjects of Hagiwara. He showed the sacred landmark of Japan in compositions that were reduced to the essentials.

CWAJ Print Shows for 36 Years

The official catalog of the 52nd CWAJ Print Show in 2007 presented two works by Hagiwara Hideo - one woodblock from 1995 titled Float and one print in mixed media (etching/aquatint/gampi) titled Shape 38 - "Return - 3" from 2007.

The 52nd of the prestigious annual CWAJ Print Shows took place as always at the Tokyo American Club from October 19-21, 2007. It happened to be the last one in which the artist participated.

Hagiware Hideo died November 4, 2007.

Exhibitions of Hagiwara Hideo

Contemporary Japanese Prints
Germination No.5
copyright Hagiwara Hideo

• 2000 - Print Masters' Exhibition, Germany.
• 2001 - Hagiwara Hideo Collection Exhibition, Yamanashi, Japan.
• 2002 - Japan 2001: 100 Views of Mount Fuji, British Museum, London, United Kingdom.
• 2004 - Exhibition commemorating the opening of Hagiwara Hideo Collection Room, Yamanishi Prefectural Museum of art, Japan.
• 2005 - Solo Exhibition, Aichi, Japan.
• 2005 - Permanent Exhibition, Kichijo-ji Art Museum, Toyko, Japan.

The artist was represented in 2007 at the annual CWAJ Print Shows shortly before his death for the 36th year.

Collections

• Museum of Modern Art (Moma), New York, USA.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA.
• Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom.
• National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan.
• Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Modern Art, Japan.
• Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts, Tokyo, Japan.

Dieter Wanczura
(July 2009)

Literature source used for this biography of Hagiwara Hideo

Helen Merritt and Nanako Yamada, "Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975", published by University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, ISBN 0-8248-1732-X.

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