About the artist
While Shiro Kasamatsu is best known for his Shin Hanga woodblock prints, he began his artistic career as a painter. A pupil of Kiyokata Kaburagi, Shiro actively exhibited his work in Bunten and Teiten, as well as other official exhibitions. In 1919, Kiyokata urged his student to design woodblock prints for the famed Shin Hanga publisher Shozaburo Watanabe. Along with the works of Hasui, Shotei and others, Watanabe published many of Shiro’s designs in the 1930s. In the 1950s, Shiro began working with the publisher Unsodo, releasing Eight Views of Tokyo and a series of kacho-e (bird-and-flower prints). Towards the end of his career, Shiro channeled the spirit of the Sosaku Hanga movement, carving and printing his own woodblocks.