Japan Art and Kawanishi Hide
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
Kawanishi Hide (1894-1965) was born in Kobe. Accordingly, he focused on his beloved hometown concerning art. However, nothing was traditional about his distinguished art. Therefore, his bold approach concerning his palette enlivened the art world of Japan.
The British Museum says, “Kawanishi was born in the city of Kobe, where he lived all his life and which was the main subject of his work, especially its cosmopolitan life as an international port. He taught himself woodblock printing after seeing a print by Yamamoto Kanae and worked in a post office rather than the family business so he could spend more time on his art. He worked from the beginning in a very colourful style with flat, simplified shapes which has its origin in the Art Deco poster style of the 1920s.”
He took a corresponding art course. However, similar to many sosaku hanga printmakers, he was mainly self-taught.
Famous print series by Kawanishi Hide include Kobe Scenes in the Twelve Months (1931), Scenery of Kobe (1933-1935), One Hundred Kobe Prints (1935), and his last famous series titled One Hundred Views of Kobe (1962).
His prints provide great knowledge of the city of Kobe before the devastating bombing raids during the war. This concerns 1945 when over 650,00 people became homeless after several American bombing raids that killed over 8,000 people. Therefore, the prints by Kawanishi Hide provide ample evidence of Kobe before such devastation.
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