Nishimura Hodō

Nishimura Hodō 西村蒲堂 (active 1930s)

BIOGRAPHY

Sources: 近代日本版画家名覧 (List of Modern Japanese Printmakers), Hanga-dō, p. 66; Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p. 110.

A lesser known shin hanga artist who worked with the Yokohama publisher Takemura Hideo 竹村秀雄. It is reported that he also used the artist name Saitō Hodō 斉藤蒲堂. No definitve birth and death dates can be found for the artist, with most sources indicating only that the artist was active in the 1930s. Merritt's entry in "Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints," simply states, "Act. 1930s. Kachō, animal, and landscape prints published by Takemura Hideo." Hanga-dō adds that the artist also designed "woodblock prints of Western-style botanical illustrations and flower and bird illustrations for the Kyoto publisher Maria Shobō マリア書房, in the early Shōwa period," although a web search does not turn up any prints by the artist designed for this publisher.