A Sense of Depth

Hideo Hagiwara, Germination, 1960, woodblock print

The figurative and abstract Japanese woodblock prints of Hagiwara Hideo made him into a renowned figure of the second half of the 20th century.

Besides innovative compositions, he developed a new technique. Beginning by printing on the back of the paper, he allowed the bleed-through to form the background of the main image, resulting in what he described as a “great sense of depth”.

Hagiwara Hideo, Blue, Grey - from the series Stone Flower, woodblock print

Hagiwara Hideo, Fantasy in White, woodblock print

Born in Japan (1913-2007), Hagiwara Hideo lived in Korea and Manchuria during his early years due to his father’s army postings. He studied oil painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, prior to which he took a woodblock printing course with Hiratsuka Un'ichi (1895-1997), a seminal figure in the sosaku hanga (creative print) movement. 

Hagiwara, Hideo, An Evening Moon, from the series Gleanings of Mount Fuji, wooblbock print

Hideo Hagiwara, Red Fujij, from the series Thirty-Six Mt. Fuji, woodblock print

After graduation Hagiwara worked as an oil painter but was conscripted into the army in 1943, returning to Tokyo in 1945 to find his house and studio in ruins and most of his early works destroyed as a result of U.S. air raids.  He continued working as an oil painter but during his long recuperation from tuberculosis (1953-55) he took up woodblock printing which was to bring him international acclaim in the 1960s.

Hagiwara Hideo, Fantasy After Rain, woodblock print

Hagiwara Hideo, Composition, woodblock print

Hagiwara taught at the University of Oregon in 1967 as a guest professor and a decade later became a lecturer at the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Musics. He served as Chairman of the Japanese Print Association and in 1989 was awarded a gold medal by the Nobel Prize Committee for several works inspired by the novels of Kawabata Yasunari. Hagiwara passed away in 2007 at the age of 94.