Edutainment > Modern Japanese Prints - Part Three

by Suisho Nishiyama

In this article we continue to introduce some lesser known names of modern Japanese art prints of the Taisho (1912-1926) and the Showa period (1926-1989) - Suisho Nishiyama, Toyonari Yamamura, Sohei Yamaguchi, Goun Nishimura and Toraji Ishikawa.

Suisho Nishiyama 1879-1958

Suisho Nishiyama was born in Kyoto with the given name Usaburo. He graduated in 1899 from the Kyoto City School of Arts and Crafts. He was honored as a member of the Imperial Art Academy and received the Order of Cultural merit in 1957 - one year before his death.

Toyonari Yamamura 1885-1942

Heroine Koman

Toyonari Yamamura is also known as Koka Yamamura. He started his artistic career as a student of Ogata Gekko. Yamamura used the name Koka Yamamura for paintings and Toyonari Yamamura for prints. He created a series of modern actor prints known as Rien no hana, which was published by Watanabe between 1920 and 1922. Famous is his series Shanghai Cafe Dancers because of his modern Western appeal.

Sohei Yamaguchi 1882-1961

Kabuki Scene

Sohei Yamaguchi was born in Osaka where he studied painting in traditional Japanese style. He created prints with historical scenes, actor portraits and made a living with newspaper illustrations.

Goun Nishimura 1877-1938

Kabuki Scene

Goun Nishimura was born in Kyoto - the town of the old imperial residence. He worked as a teacher for traditional Japanese painting at the Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting. His favorite subjects were natural life themes and actor scenes.

Toraji Ishikawa 1875-1964

Heroine Toragozen

Like Hiroshi Yoshida and Hasui Kawase, Toraji Ishikawa liked to travel. He was on extensive tours through Europe and the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1915, he had an important exhibition in San Francisco. Later he became the head of a painting school in Japan.

Literature sources used for this article

• 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
• The Female Image - 20th century prints of Japanese beauties, ABE PUBLISHING LTD., Tokyo & Hotei Publishing Leiden, ISBN 90-74822-20-7

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