Biography
Rie Hidaka (born 1956, Osaka) is a Japanese printmaker working principally in etching, with a sustained practice based in Osaka. Her selection in the 68th CWAJ Print Show in 2025 with 'My life as a dog 1,' a 100 × 78 cm etching, places her among the senior intaglio printmakers active in the Kansai region in the mid-2020s and demonstrates the scale at which she is comfortable working — a metre-tall etching plate is an unusually large copper-plate format for Japanese contemporary print practice.
Hidaka received her foundational training at Kyoto City University of the Arts, the principal Kansai-region art university and one of the two top-tier Japanese art universities outside Tokyo (the other being Tokyo University of the Arts, Geidai). KCUA's printmaking program has produced a sustained line of intaglio printmakers from the 1970s onward, and Hidaka's etching practice is consistent with that institutional lineage.
Following her university training, Hidaka has been a long-standing member of Atelier Dekotoku, a workshop and member-studio operating in the Kansai region as a shared editioning environment for contemporary intaglio printmakers. Atelier-based print practice — where a working artist maintains studio time at a shared facility for plate-making, proofing, and editioning — is the dominant economic model for contemporary Japanese intaglio, and Hidaka's Dekotoku membership both situates her within an active practice community and confirms her sustained engagement with the medium beyond her university years.
Hidaka is also a member of the Japan Print Association (Nihon Hanga Kyokai), the principal national organization for Japanese contemporary printmakers founded in 1931. JPA membership is competitive and is the standard credential for working Japanese printmakers operating across all media — woodcut, intaglio, lithography, silkscreen — and includes biennial exhibition rights at major venues including the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum.
The title 'My life as a dog 1' suggests an autobiographical or narrative framing — the numbering 1 implies a series in development. The 100 × 78 cm sheet size is at the upper end of intaglio practice and suggests technical confidence with large copper-plate handling, which is logistically demanding (acid baths, plate registration, press capacity). The CWAJ catalog assigned the work Print No. 029 in the 68th edition and selected it for the 2025 online gallery presentation.
Further biographical detail beyond the CWAJ Print Show entry — Hidaka's broader exhibition history, museum holdings, and series outside 'My life as a dog' — is not currently surfaced through the public-facing English-language channels. The Atelier Dekotoku member directory and Japan Print Association exhibition records would be the principal next-step research targets for extending this bio.
Key Facts
- Active Period
- 1956
- Nationality
- 🇯🇵Japan
- Movement
- Contemporary Mokuhanga
- Works Indexed
- 1
Frequently Asked Questions
Rie Hidaka (born 1956, Osaka) is a Japanese printmaker working principally in etching, with a sustained practice based in Osaka. Her selection in the 68th CWAJ Print Show in 2025 with 'My life as a dog 1,' a 100 × 78 cm etching, places her among the senior intaglio printmakers active in the Kansai region in the mid-2020s and demonstrates the scale at which she is comfortable working — a metre-tall etching plate is an unusually large copper-plate format for Japanese contemporary print practice.
Rie Hidaka was active born in 1956. They were associated with the Contemporary Mokuhanga movement.
Rie Hidaka's work was shaped by the Contemporary Mokuhanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Contemporary Mokuhanga: Contemporary mokuhanga (literally "wood-block print") encompasses artists working from approximately 1970 to the present who continue or reinvent traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.