Maekawa Senpan: An Artist In The Provinces

A year ago (One Hundred Views Of New Tokyo - 15 August 2008) we looked at the prints of Maekawa Senpan as part of an early 20th century group -the Sosaku Hanga movement - that portrayed scenes of modern Japanese life in their work, particularly scenes of fast-growing industrial cities. Sosaku Hanga, or 'creative print', also refers to their new method of working: rather than a collaboration between a sketcher, an engraver, and a printer to achieve perfection, these artists worked alone, adopting the western notion of individual creativity. That idea is an over simplification, of course.

Maekawa Senpan (1889-1960) , a native of Kyoto, moved to Tokyo as an adult, where he worked as a cartoonist and illustrator.
In these prints (from the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts) we see the development of Maekawa's playful sense in his use of color and strong diagonal elements. Even in an early work - Inlet at Hokkaido at right, an otherwise ordinary view holds the eye through the modern clothing the two people are wearing.

Kaurizawa New Road, with its sharp corners, was probably inteende for motorized vehicles.
Although Maekawa often uses the subdued tones familiar from faded older prints, the images always reveal their modernity both through the artist's stylistic gestures and by the demeanor of his huamn subjects. These are individuals we can recognize.


For more about Sosaku Hanga, visit here.