Tsuchiya Kōitsu () was a Japanese artist in the

Shin-hanga was an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods, that revitalized the traditional '' ukiyo-e'' art rooted in the Edo and Meiji periods (17th–19th century). It maintained the traditional ''ukiyo-e' ...

movement. He trained under the

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

master

Kobayashi Kiyochika was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, best known for his colour Woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock prints and newspaper illustrations. His work documents the rapid modernization and Westernization Japan underwent during the Meiji period (1868– ...

for 19 years, and initially focused on works depicting scenes from the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

. In 1931, at the age of 60, he began work for

Shōzaburō Watanabe was a Japanese print publisher and the driving force behind one of the Woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock printmaking movements known as ''shin-hanga'' ("new prints"). Biography He started his career working for the export company of , whi ...

and his art publishing establishment which also published the work of artists like

Kawase Hasui was a Japanese artist who was one of 20th century Japan's most important and prolific Japanese woodblock printing, printmakers. He was a prominent designer of the ''shin-hanga'' ("new prints") movement, whose artists depicted traditional subject ...

and Yoshida Hiroshi. His later work incorporated light effects to increase the emotional impact of his art.

Biography

Tsuchiya Koitsu was born on September 23, 1870, in

Hamamatsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In September 2023, the city had an estimated population of 780,128 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, with a population density of over the t ...

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tok ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. His birth name was either Koichi or Sahei. He moved to

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

at age 15. He first had an apprenticeship for the woodblock carver Matsuzaki, but soon became a student of ukiyo-e master Kiyochika Kobayashi. He worked for Kiyochika for 19 years and lived in his house. He initially published prints made during the

, before developing his skill with dramatic light effects, learned from Kiyochika. Koitsu published through the Watanabe publishing house after Watanabe and Koitsu met at an exhibition commemorating the 17th anniversary of Kiyochika's death. He also produced prints for publishers Doi Sadaichi, Kawaguchi, Baba Nobuhiko, Tanaka Shobido, and Takemura.

Gallery

Akashi strand Akashi no hama (titel op object), AK-MAK-1637.jpg, Akashi strand Akashi no hama Chinese Warship Ting Yuang Visiting Japan.jpg, Chinese Warship Ting Yuang Visiting Japan Het drijvende paviljoen te Katada in de sneeuw Yuki no Katada Ukimido (titel op object), AK-MAK-1636.jpg, The floating pavilion at Katada in the snow Yuki no Katada Ukimido Nitta Yoshisada - Tsuchiya Koitsu.jpg, Nitta Yoshisada Rain at Kofukuji Temple (5759571352).jpg, Rain at Kofukuji Temple Tsuchiya Kōitsu - Sketches of Famous Places in Japan- Asakusa Kinryūzan Temple - 2016.76 - Cleveland Museum of Art (cropped).tif, Sketches of Famous Places in Japan, Asakusa Kinryūzan Temple

References

* Helen Merritt ''Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints : The Early Years"''. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2001. . * Helen Merrit, Nanako Yamada ''Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints 1900-1975'' University of Hawaii Press, 1995 . * Saoya Shinora ''Genkouyoushi Paper''. Independent Publisher, 2019

External links

*
Collection of Tsuchiya Koitsu Prints
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuchiya, Koitsu Ukiyo-e 1870 births 1949 deaths Shin hanga artists 20th-century Japanese painters 20th-century Japanese printmakers