After Takahashi Shotei (1871-1945) Japanese, Vertical Woodblock Print. Title: "Shower at Terashima." First printed in 1932. Depicts figures crossing a bridge in the rain to leave or reach a sheltering ryokan. Red kanji bottom right. Black kanji middle left. Framed. 

Overall Size: 21 x  12 in. 

Sight Size: 14 x 6 in. 

#6741 . 

Takahashi Shōtei was born Komei Katsutaro 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, including the name Hiroaki which he used most often. After studying art, Shotei and Terazaki Kogyo founded the Japan Youth Painting Society in 1889. By 1907 he was so successful that he was recruited by Watanabe Shōzaburō to contribute shinsaku-hanga (souvenir prints) to his new publishing house. Watanabe helped to fulfill the Western demand for newly-styled ukiyo-e woodblock prints which would be similar to familiar historical masters of that genre, especially Hiroshige. In 1923 the Great Kanto earthquake (and subsequent fire) destroyed Watanabe’s facilities and all the woodblocks of the artists who worked with him. Shotei spent years recreating prior designs for him as well as producing new woodblocks in the shin-hanga style. Shotei died of pneumonia on February 11th, 1945. His works are held in the permanent collections of many museums worldwide, including the British Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Honolulu Museum of Art.