Yamamura Toyonari

Background

Yamamura Toyonari was born on January 2, 1886, in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, the son of a priest of Shinagawa Shrine.

Education

Toyonari studied with Ogata Gekko, a Meiji printmaker, and painter. Then he graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1907.

Career

Best known for Yamamura's prints and paintings of kabuki actors, Yamamura Toyonari made an early contribution to the shin hanga movement. In 1907, he exhibited at the first government-sponsored Bunten show that year. He used the artist's name 'Koka' for his paintings and lithographs. In 1915, Toyonari designed several small actor prints for the project "New Actor Portraits" (Shin Nigao-e). The blocks for these prints were carved by Igami Bonkotsu. Several other artists contributed to this project, including Natori Shunsen, Torii Kotondo, and Ishii Hakutei. In total, five booklets of actor prints were produced. The purpose of this project was to promote and advertise the kabuki theater.

The following year, the Tokyo publisher Watanabe Shozaburo saw one of Toyonari's actor paintings. He was impressed and he asked Toyonari if he could create a woodblock print based on the painting. Toyonari agreed and both men were pleased by the resulting print, Nakamura Ganjiro I as Oboshi Yuranosuke. They continued to collaborate on several more actor prints and in 1920, Toyonari began work on a series of 12 actor prints for which he is best known. The series was called "Flowers of the theatrical world" and each design was initially produced in an edition of 150 prints. The prints were made in the okubi-e or 'large head' format.

Unfortunately, the blocks for Toyonari's actor prints were destroyed in the catastrophic 1923 earthquake. As a result, these prints are quite rare. After the earthquake, Toyonari moved on to other subject matter and his collaboration with Watanabe seems to have ended. He continued to design strikingly modern prints, including landscapes, bijin-ga, and kacho-e. Many of these prints show a sophisticated use of light and shadow. In the print, "Horned Oranges", Toyonari used a subtle gradient in the background wallpaper that gives the fruit a luminous aura. The stylized lines on the tabletop suggest the shadow of the fruit bowl. It is hard to believe that this arrestingly modern still-life was designed in 1926.

Another remarkable print, "Shanghai Café Dancers", was carved and published by Toyonari himself in 1924. This print embodies the spirit of the Roaring Twenties, depicting modern girls in Western clothing who are drinking, dancing, and socializing. It was one of the first Japanese prints to allude to the radical social changes that were taking place in Japan at that time. Toyonari is thought to have designed around 30 woodblock prints in all, sixteen of which were published by Watanabe. He also worked in the lithograph medium. Many of his woodblock prints were shown at the 1930 Toledo exhibition. The artist died on January 25, 1942 in Saint Luke's International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.

Achievements

• Yamamura Toyonari was distinguished for his paintings "Kōshirō in the role of Mitsuhide", "Onoe Matsusuke IV as Komori Yasu", "Matsumoto Koshiro VII as Sekibei", and "Ichikawa Shocho II as Oman."

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Ichikawa Shocho II as Oman

  • Horned Oranges

  • Parakeet on Table

  • Shanghai Cafe Dancers

  • Two Prawns

  • Bando Mitsugoro VII as the Mute in Sannin-Katawa

  • Ichikawa Danshiro II as Henmei Tesshinai

  • Matsumoto Koshiro VII as Sukeroku

  • Kichiiemon as Hoshikage Tsuchiemon

  • The Heroine Koman in the play Tanba Yosaku

  • Ichikawa Ennosuke II as Hayami-no-Tota

  • Sonosuke in the role of Koharu

  • Nakamura Ganjiro I as Akane Hanshichi

  • Nakamura Utaemon V as Owasa

  • Matsusuke as Goroji

  • Kōshirō in the role of Mitsuhide

  • Actor in Chinese Play

  • Shinagawa in Snow

  • View of Fuji from Izumo

  • Jar of Dahlias

  • Pelicans

  • Morita Kan'ya XIII as Jean Valjean

  • Festival Night Fireworks

  • Ichikawa Uzaemon XV as the Gardener Kichigoro

  • Typical Daughter of Downtown Edo

  • A Dancer of Kyoto

  • Woman with Scarf

  • February - Wintry Sky

  • Matsumoto Koshiro VII as Sekibei

  • Kataoka Nizaemon XI as Kakiemon

  • Onoe Matsusuke IV as Komori Yasu

  • Sawamura Sonosuke I as Umegawa

  • Nakamura Ganjiro I as Oboshi Yuranosuke

Views

Quotations: "If I had to say so, painters being painters create splendid pictures, and if print masters being print masters convert these faithfully into prints, I think it can be said that these are entirely "creative works." However, if an artist cannot be satisfied with his own work, they should create just the key block and color blocks themselves and then leave them in the hands of the specialist block cutters and printers. I believe that this end result is creative work. And then, if all is under strict supervision, I feel that in the end, it is generally a creative print when done in this manner. Even I at one time tried to "self-draw, self-carve and self-print", but I recognized that the technique was crude, and these days I have stopped doing this altogether... in order to create shin hanga I meet with artisans and while talking it through with block cutters and printers, I rely on their technique and work diligently with them to produce prints."

Membership

Toyonari was the member of Saiko Nihon Bijutsuin from 1916. He was also a founding member of the artist group Sango-kai (Coral Society).

Interests

• theatrical arts

Connections

tutor:

Ogata Gekkō

References

• Yamamura Toyonari Pelicans Bookplates Bp123
  2016