Yukawa, Shodo (1868 - 1955 )
Shodo Yukawa was an Osaka-based nihonga painter and print designer active during the Meiji and Showa periods. Born in Wakayama, Shodo studied first under Sadahiro Mitani in Osaka, before moving to Kyoto to study under Shonen Suzuki. He later returned to Osaka. Though he worked primarily as a painter, Shodo Yukawa also produced popular bijin-ga, or “pictures of beautiful women” in the woodblock print format. His series Kinko Fuzoku Hyaku Bijin (1901-1903) was popular, portraying beauties and customs of past and present. While the title speaks to one hundred beauties, the complete series included more than one hundred designs. There is some dispute about the year of his death, but scholars agree that he was alive in 1915.
Meiji Period Prints (1868-1912)
Meiji-period woodblock prints reflect an era of change. In 1853, the arrival of Commodore Perry’s black ships brought over 250 years of Japanese isolation to an abrupt end. The following year, as Japan engaged in international trade, Yokohama-e (Yokohama pictures) captured an influx of unfamiliar peoples, places and things entering Japan through Yokohama harbor. By 1868, the Imperial line attained control of the country under Emperor Meiji, terminating the feudal rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate and dissipating the culture of the floating world. Under the emperor, national modernization progressed rapidly. From Western-style clothes and pastimes, to exciting new inventions from overseas, Japan absorbed the massive influx of the foreign and developed a distinctly Japanese modern identity. While photography and lithography gained popularity at this time, the woodblock print continued to serve as a powerful medium. Meiji period artists made sense of a transitioning world with a familiar medium.
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Yukawa, Shodo
Beauty of Heian Period in Twelve-layer Kimono
JP1-68295