EDUTAINMENT

Okiie Hashimoto - 1899-1993

Castle
copyright Okiie Hashimoto

"Region of the Middle" translated means Chugoku-chiho, the name of the region at the southern end of the Japanese main island Honshu. The artist Okiie Hashimoto was born in 1899 there on the Japanese coast in the Tottori Prefecture. The Japanese landscape, famous for its large sand dunes, had long ago received a modern life, esp. with the building of cities. But the cultural values of traditional Japan are still alive in the palaces, temples, gardens or natural wonders in his woodcuts.

Despite the artist's connection with the traditional, his woodcuts are influenced bz modern western ideas. His works join both cultures and use the traditional Japanese language. But they are transformed, expressive and have graphic constrasts. This powerful characteristic made Hashimoto one of the leading artists not only in the debate with western art, btu also in the modern Japanese art in general. Trotz der traditionellen Bindung des Künstlers sind gerade seine Holzschnitte von Modernität im westlichen Sinne geprägt. Seine Werke verbinden beide Kulturkreise, verwenden die traditionelle japanische Sprache, setzen sie aber auf expressive, auf graphisch abgesetzte Kontraste basierende Weise um. Dieser kraftvolle Duktus machte Hashimoto zum führenden Künstler nicht nur in der Auseinandersetzung mit der westlichen Kunst, sondern auch in der modernen Kunst Japans generell.

Rooted in Tradition

Nude
copyright Okiie Hashimoto

Okiie Hashimoto pursued a classical study of art and painting for four years, graduating in 1923 from the College of Art in Tokyo. Then he continued his studies under Itaru Tanabe and Shodo Hirata. His artistic style emerged decisively after having met renowned woodcut artist Unichi Hiratsuka. Hashimoto had attended Hiratsuka's courses and was later accepted into his circle of artists, the Yoyogi-ha. Through this group he developed a life long friendship with Hiratsuka, which was also accompanied by artistic enrichment. Both artists not came from the same region in Japan. But they also found family in the artistic sense.

Career

The free-lancing artistic career of Okiie Hashimoto started relatively late. First of all, because he taught art full time at a middle school since 1925, he could only take on secondary art jobs. Then he received a position as an assitant to the head of the school at a renowned girls college in Tokyo, where he stayed until 1955. Afterwards he decided to dedeicated himself exclusively to being an artist.

Between Tradition and the Modern

Garden in Early Autumn
copyright Okiie Hashimoto

There is little known about the paintings of Okiie Hashimoto. He achieved much more international fame for his woodcuts, to which he dedicated himself since meeting Unichi Hiratsuka. Although his teacher and friend limited him strictly to black and white woodcuts, he also seized powerful, bright and pure colors for his works. Nevertheless his stylized forms are defined by powerful lines and his visual structure is formed by stark constrasts.

The rough work of a woodcut from German expressionism seemed familiar to both artists. Hashimoto opposed however, this particular technical script to archetypal Japanese poetry and the decorative organization of forms. And so Hashimoto succeeded in achieving a synthesis of traditional concreteness and modern abstraction in his large format woodcuts, which had a groundbreaking effect on the younger generation.

Old Japan in Hashimoto's Work

Like Unichi Hiratsuka Okiie Hashimoto also cherished old Japan a great deal. Historical buildings in the traditional Japanese style - whether palaces, gardens, temples or homes - predominate in his woodcut prints. But also the beauty of nature and of the splendid landscape of Japan, found today only in a few untouched regions, attracted the interest of the artist. The presentation of people, especially young women and files, appear first in Hashimoto's late period. He used the old traditional Japanese stamp with the name "Oki" and "Hashi" for his signature.

Wirkungskreis Hashimotos

Takamatsu Castle
copyright Okiie Hashimoto

Okiie Hashimoto wirkte nicht nur als Pädagoge und Künstler. Er war auch Mitglied in den Verbänden Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Verband der Druckgraphiker) seit 1940 und Kokuga-kai. Ferner wirkte er in den Künstlerwerkstätten Kitsutsuki hangashu (1943) und Ichimokushu mit. Über seine Ausstellungstätigkeit ist wenig bekannt. Im Rahmen seiner Mitgliedschaften nahm er auf alle Fälle schon in den dreissiger Jahren regelmässig an Gruppenausstellungen teil. Ausserdem stellte er in Shin Bunten, Nitten und Shun'yokai aus. Einige Galerien und Museen weltweit sind im Besitz seiner Arbeiten, die regelmässig ausgestellt werden.

Einige Holzschnitte Hashimotos fanden in Buchpublikationen Platz. Der Verleger Kato Junji brachte zwei Reihen von Darstellungen japanischer Paläste in "Nihon no shiro gabun shu" (Bildersammlung japanischer Paläste) von 1944 und in "Kojo jikkei" (zehn Ansichten alter Paläste) von 1946 heraus. 1962 veröffentlichte indes Nihon Jokaku Kyokai eine Reihe von Holzschnitten im Buch "Nihon no meijo gashu" (Bildersammlung berühmter japanischer Paläste).

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