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Edutainment > Articles on Art > Sosaku Hanga > Sumio Kawakami - 1895-1972

Kawakami Sumio

Nanbanburi

Sumio Kawakami was a teacher for English and a self-taught sosaku hanga artist. He was a modest man and considered himself an amateur printmaker. Today Kawakami prints are to be found in important museum collections. And a complete museum is devoted exclusively to his woodblocks.

Born in Yokohama

Kawakami Sumio was born in Yokohama - famous as an enclave for foreigners after the Treaty of Kanagawa of 1854. The arrival of Western diplomats and merchants had brought an new woodblock genre to life - Yokohama-e, prints depicting the foreigners and Western technical achievements like iron boats or locomotives.

A Self-Taught Artist

Kawakami Sumio

Nanbansen

Kawakami never attended any of the official art schools. However as a child and adolescent he was a frequent guest in the art studio of Goda Kiyoshi (1862-1938), a printmaker who was experienced both in Western and in traditional Japanese printmaking.

At the age of twenty-two, Sumio went to the US and Canada for two years. On his return, he became an English teacher in a public School of Tochigi Prefecture.

The printmaking activities of Kawakami started after his return from North America. He became a member of several sosaku hanga associations and exhibited with these groups regularly. The artist created single sheet prints and 33 limited edition books - mostly self-carved and self-printed.

His style is sometimes ironical and humorous. Many print subjects deal with the impact of foreigners on the Japanese culture. Thus he continued the yokohama-e traditon - in a different and more critical, but never aggressive style.

Late Recognition

In 1945, during the last year of the second world war, the artist and his wife were evacuated to Hokkaido, where they stayed until 1949. In 1949 he was awarded a prize by the Tochigi Prefecture for his cultural merits. In the 1960s' Sumio Kawakami finally gained late recognition. In 1974 and 1975 several large retrospective exhibitions were held in his memorial.

Today the Kawakami Sumio Print Museum, located in central Kanuma of Tochigi Prefecture, displays solely the works of Kawakami Sumio.

Literature sources used for this Sumio Kawakami biography

• 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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