Woodblock by Takahashi Hiroaki, Moonrise at Tokumochi, c1935

Woodblock: 6.5" x 9 3/4"
Frame: 11 1/4" x 14 3/4"
Publisher: Watanabe

Takahashi Hiroaki
(source: wiki) Takahashi Shotei, born Hiroaki (1871 - February 11, 1945) was a 20th-century Japanese woodblock artist in the shin-hanga art movement.

Hiroaki Takahashi was born in Tokyo, Japan, in 1871. As a young artist he was given the artistic name Shotei by his uncle, Matsumoto Fuko, under whose tutelage he was apprenticing. When he was 16 years old, he started a job with the Imperial Household Department of Foreign Affairs, where he copied the designs of foreign ceremonial objects. As with many Japanese woodblock artists over his lifetime he signed his work with various names and worked for several publishing companies. After studying art, Shotei and Terazaki Kogyo founded the Japan Youth Painting Society in 1889. In 1907, as a successful artist, he was recruited by Shozaburo Watanabe to contribute to the Shin Hanga (New Prints) art movement in Japan. Watanabe helped to fulfill the Western demand for Ukiyoe woodblock prints which would be similar to familiar historical masters of that genre, including Hiroshige. In about 1921 Shotei added the artistic name of Hiroaki. In 1923 the Great Kanto earthquake (and subsequent fire) destroyed Watanabes facilities; this included all Shin Hanga woodblocks. Thus, Shotei recreated prior designs destroyed in the Great Kanto earthquake and also continued to produce new woodblocks. Shotei died of pneumonia on February 11, 1945.

His works are held in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the British Museum, the Princeton University Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, the National Museum of Asian Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Arizona State University Art Museum, the Brunnier Art Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art, and the Saint Louis Art Museum.

Good condition overall