About the artist
Yamagishi Kazue was both an artist and a skilled woodblock carver of the early 20th century. He studied Western-style painting (yoga) with Seiki Kuroda as well as sculpture under Shuho Muto. Between 1906 and 1916 Yamagishi worked as a carver for Yomiuri Shinbun Company before becoming a popular block carver for early innovators in the sosaku hanga (creative movement), such Kyokichi Tanaka, Ryusei Kishida, and Koshiro Onchi. Over his career he also worked with artists such as Hiroshi Yoshida, Kiyokata Kaburagi, Yumeji Takehisa, and Paul Jacolet. Between 1926 and 1929, he traveled the US and Europe teaching about the woodblock print technique under the auspices of the Ministry of Education. Soon after his return to Japan, in 1931 he joined fellow sosaku hanga artists as a founding member of the Japan Print Association (Nihon Hanga Kyokai). As for his own prints, Yamagishi focused on landscapes. His series include One Hundred Views of Japan (1929), One Hundred Views of the World (1937), and One Hundred Views of East Asia (1937).