Prints in Collection

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Biography

Biography compiled primarily  from the following sources: List of Modern Japanese Printmakers (1900-1945) Artists who produced prints before the war (4) (second half) published by Hangadō 版画堂 and "Printmaker Across the Sea: Kazue Yamagishi - Works from the Fujisawa City Collection" at Fujisawa Art Space.

Yamagishi Kazue was born on September 15, 1891 in Misuzu Village (now Ina City) in Nagano Prefecture. After graduating high school at the age of 15 he moved to Tokyo to apprentice under woodblock carver Mutō Rikichi 武藤李吉 (dates unknown).[1]  In 1913 he started working at the newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun, where his teacher, Mutō, had worked, in charge of carving illustrations for the paper. After four years at the paper he left to start his own carving business and at about that same time started studying Western-style painting (yōga) at Kuroda Seiki's 黒田清輝 (1866-1924) Aoi-bashi Institute of Western Painting, where he studied until 1921.

In 1917, he carved the woodblock print illustrations, designed by Tanaka Kyōkichi's 田中恭吉 (1892-1915), for Hagiwara Sakutarō's 萩原朔太郎 1886-1942 famous poetry anthology Howling at the Moon (月に吠える Tsuki ni hoeru), the frontispiece of which is shown below. He would go on to carve woodblocks for numerous famous artists and publishers, including all 18 prints for Woodblock Print Supplements to The Complete Works of Chikamatsu (Dai Chikamatsu zenshu furoku mokuhan 大近松全集 付録木版), 1922-1923; the first series of Paul Jacoulet's Album of World Customs (Sekai fūzoku hanga-shū  世界風俗版画集), 1935[2] and Ishikawa Toraji's 石川寅治 (1875-1964)  controversial, at the time, Ten Types of Female Nudes (Rajo jūsshu 裸女十種 ), 1935, shown below. 

Other artists he carved blocks for were, Kishida Ryūsei 岸田劉生 (1891-1929) [covers for the literary magazine Shirakaba (White Birch, 1910-1923)]; Matsuoka Eikyū 松岡映丘 (1881-1938), Yamaguchi Hōshun 山口蓬春 (1893-1971) and Yamamura Toyonari (Kōka) 山村耕花 (1885-1942) for Twelve Views of Japan, 1926; Kobayashi Kaichi 小林かいち (1896-1968); Kojō Kōkan 古城江観 (1891-1988); Kiyoei Kobayashi  小林清栄 (1894-1987); Tatsukichi Fujii 藤井達吉 (1881-1964); Onchi Kōshirō 恩地孝四郎  (1891-1955) (various book covers); Yokoyama Taikan 横山大観 (1868-1958); Takehisa Yumeji 竹久夢二  (1884-1934), who he befriended when they both worked at the Yomiuri Shinbun; Kaburaki Kiyokata 鏑木清方 (1878-1972); and some early works by Yoshida Hiroshi 吉田博 (1876-1950) including El Capitan, shown below.

Also a skilled printer, he would on occasion undertake both the block carving printing of other artist works and often printed his own work. Yamagishi was also a bridge between the two print movements that arose in the wake of the demise of ukiyo-e, shin hanga, the "new print" movement fostered by the publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō 渡辺庄三郎 (1885-1962) and the artist publisher Yoshida Hiroshi and sōsaku hanga, the "creative print" movement, driven by Onchi Kōshirō.

[1] Several sources, including Merritt in Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints 1900-1975, state that Yamagishi was a self-taught carver and that while he did study under 武藤李吉 Mutō Rikichi (also romanized as Mutō Shūhō), Mutō was a sculptor rather than a carver. The 2018 retrospective of Yamagishi's work at the Fujisawa Art Space, however, clearly states the he studied under woodblock carver/engraver Mutō Rikichi.  A web search did not reveal any mention of either a sculptor or woodblock carver with the name 武藤李吉, except within the context of having taught Yamagishi.

[2] "Yamagishi did fourteen very successful woodblock prints for Jacoulet. However, Jacoulet soon came to feel that the prints reflected more of the vision of Yamagishi than of Jacoulet." Source: "The Art of Paul Jacoulet (1897-1960): A Tribute to the Floating World," Peter Adams, appearing in California Art Club Newsletter, February 1998, p. 4.

Examples of Prints Carved by Yamagishi Kazue for Other Artists

Woodblock Prints of the Artist

Yamagishi's self-carved, self-printed and self-published woodblock prints, largely generated in the late 1920s into the late 1930s, seem to go largely unexplored by scholars. Primarily landscapes based upon his extensive travels, they also encompass the nude figure and multiple styles. Perhaps the destruction of his studio, equipment, inventory of prints and printing blocks during allied air raids in 1945 contributes to the incorrectly held belief that his print oeuvre was fairly limited.

It is unknown when he created his first print, but the print shown below on the left bearing a date of 1917 must be one of his earliest woodblock prints. Interestingly, the design for the two trees was reused by Yamagishi in his c. 1930 print Notre Dame from the Banks of the Seine, as shown below.

His best known series, each an intended one hundred prints, are One Hundred Views of Japan (Nihon hyakkei 日本百景), 1929, One Hundred Views of the World (Sekai hyakkei 世界百景), 1928 to 1937 and One Hundred Views of East Asia (Tōa hyakkei 東亜百景) 1939-1943.[1] Each of these series came out of Yamagishi's extensive travel and his resulting sketches of the places he visited. Neither One Hundred Views of East Asia or One Hundred Views of Japan were completed. 

A founding member of the Japan Print Association (Nihon Hanga Kyōkai) in 1931,  whose goal was to promote the art of Japanese printmaking through international exhibitions, regular exhibitions of new works and encouraging the establishment of printmaking departments at public art schools, he exhibited seven works from One Hundred Views of the World at the JPA's first exhibition, continuing to exhibit his prints with the Association through their fifth exhibition in 1936.[2] In the 1930s, his work was exhibited in Paris in 1932 and again in 1934 at the JPA's Paris exhibition "Contemporary Japanese Printmaking and Its Sources." As early as 1928 his works were acquired by both the Louvre and British Museum. 

As pressure mounted for artists to support the war effort and, in return, receive the materials they required to pursue their art, Yamagishi would serve at the front as a war artist, undertaking five tours in China, Taiwan and other countries from 1939-1943. He also joined the Japan Print Public Service Association (Nippon Hanga hōkōkai 版画奉公会 ) "an enforced governmental merger of all the print societies and publishers to serve the war effort", headed by Onchi Kōshirō.[3] Two examples of his rare war prints shown below.

His studio, print inventory and woodblocks in Kōjimachi, Chiyoda, Tokyo were destroyed by fire in an air raid in May 1945 as was much of his work in 1923 as a result of the Great Kantō Earthquake. After the war, in 1947, he moved to Fujisawa City, Kanagawa Prefecture and in 1950 he participated in the founding of the Fujisawa City Artists Association, exhibiting in its first exhibition the following year. He would later serve as a juror for this exhibition. Around 1949 he taught print making at the U.S. Military Education Center and in 1951 he produced peace postcards to commemorate the signing of the Japan-U.S. Peace Treaty at the request of Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida.

His later series of prints included the Buddha Statue 仏像 series and the Flowers and Vases 花と壺 series produced c. 1958. In the 1960s Yamagishi's work appears to have focused on roughly cut monochrome works as shown below. In 1964, he donated many of his works to Fujisawa City. In 1983 he returned to Ina City, the place of his birth, donating works, woodblocks, and materials to the city where he would pass away the following year at the age of 94.

Many of his works are housed in Ina City and Fujisawa City, both cities having mounted exhibitions of his work in recent years.

[1] One Hundred Views of East Asia came out of Yamagishi's visits to Manchuria and Korea in 1937 and five trips to China and Mongolia from 1939-1943.

[2] Japan Print Association website in English http://www.hangakyoukai.com/en/member/index.html#bukko

[3] Since Meiji: Perspectives on the Japanese Visual Arts, edited by J. Thomas Rimer, University of Hawai'i Press, 2012, p. 382.

Scenic Views of Japan

Most of the below prints are likely from the artist's series One Hundred Views of Japan (Nihon hyakkei), 1929. All prints image size approximately 11 1/4 x 14 1/8 in. (28.6 x 35.9 cm).

Scenic Views from Around The World

Notes:

Most of the below prints are likely from the artist's series One Hundred Views of the World  (Sekai hyakkei), 1928-1937. 

All prints image size approximately 11 1/4 x 14 1/8 in. (28.5 x 36 cm) unless otherwise noted

Yamagishi traveled to war zones in Asia as a military artist recording the scenes he observed. 

Notes:

All prints image size approximately 11 1/4 x 14 1/8 in. (28.5 x 36 cm) unless otherwise noted

Nudes

Later Prints by the Artist