Biography
Yamakawa Shuho (山川秀峰, 1898–1944) was a Japanese painter and woodblock print designer who produced some of the most refined and elegant bijin-ga (beautiful women) prints of the shin-hanga movement. A student of the celebrated nihonga painter Ikeda Terukata, Yamakawa brought the sophistication of high Japanese painting to the woodblock medium, creating images of women in modern settings that balanced traditional grace with contemporary sensibility.
Born in 1898 in Tokyo, Yamakawa entered the studio of Ikeda Terukata as a young man, immersing himself in the Kaburagi Kiyokata lineage of bijin-ga painting that would produce so many of the shin-hanga movement's leading figure artists. Under Terukata's guidance, he mastered the subtleties of nihonga technique — mineral pigments on silk, delicate brushwork, the rendering of fabric patterns and hair — skills that translated directly into his woodblock print designs.
Yamakawa's prints were published primarily by Watanabe Shozaburo, the central publisher of the shin-hanga movement. His bijin-ga subjects depicted women of the 1920s and 1930s in a variety of settings: geisha in formal attire, modern women in Western dress, women at leisure in domestic interiors, and figures set against seasonal backgrounds. His style occupied a distinctive middle ground between the classical refinement of Ito Shinsui and the bolder modernism of Kobayakawa Kiyoshi, offering images of feminine beauty that were elegant without being austere, modern without being confrontational.
Among his most admired prints are "Sash" (Obi), depicting a woman adjusting her kimono sash with a graceful torsion of the body; "No. 2 Iris" from a flower series that paired beautiful women with seasonal blossoms; and "Dancing Figure" (Mai Sugata), showing a woman performing a classical Japanese dance. His prints are characterized by refined color harmonies, meticulous attention to textile patterns, and an underlying warmth of human observation that distinguishes his work from more formally austere bijin-ga designs.
Yamakawa was also an accomplished nihonga painter who exhibited regularly at the prestigious Teiten and Bunten national exhibitions, receiving recognition from the Japanese art establishment alongside his printmaking activities. This dual career in painting and print design was common among shin-hanga artists, who were trained first as painters and came to woodblock printmaking through the initiative of publishers like Watanabe.
Yamakawa died in 1944 at the age of forty-six, his career cut short by wartime privation. His relatively small body of woodblock print designs — perhaps forty to fifty known prints — combined with the quality and refinement of his best work has made his prints increasingly sought after by collectors. His work is represented in collections including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Honolulu Museum of Art.
Key Facts
- Active Period
- 1898–1944
- Nationality
- 🇯🇵Japan
- Movement
- Shin-hanga
- Works Indexed
- 42
Frequently Asked Questions
Yamakawa Shuho (山川秀峰, 1898–1944) was a Japanese painter and woodblock print designer who produced some of the most refined and elegant bijin-ga (beautiful women) prints of the shin-hanga movement. A student of the celebrated nihonga painter Ikeda Terukata, Yamakawa brought the sophistication of high Japanese painting to the woodblock medium, creating images of women in modern settings that balanced traditional grace with contemporary sensibility.
Yamakawa Shuho was active from 1898 to 1944. They were associated with the Shin-hanga movement.
Yamakawa Shuho's work was shaped by the Shin-hanga tradition in Japanese woodblock printmaking. Shin-hanga: ## What is Shin-hanga? Shin-hanga (新版画), literally "new prints," is the early twentieth-century revival of the collaborative Japanese woodblock workshop, organized between roughly 1915 and 1960 by the Tokyo publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885–1962) and a handful of competing houses.
Original prints by Yamakawa Shuho can be found in collections including Ohmi Gallery, Japanese Art Open Database, Minneapolis Institute of Art, kruml.
Yamakawa Shuho occupies a respected position among shin-hanga bijin-ga artists, with prices that reflect both the quality of his work and its relative scarcity compared to more prolific contemporaries. His elegant depictions of women bridge the classical refinement of Ito Shinsui and the modernist boldness of Kobayakawa Kiyoshi. Most prints sell in the $1,000–$5,000 range. His prints were published primarily by Watanabe Shozaburo. Lifetime editions from the 1920s-1930s command the highest prices, while posthumous Watanabe editions are more affordable. As with all Watanabe-published prints, the publisher seal style and paper quality are key indicators of the printing era. Condition is important, particularly the preservation of delicate skin-tone bokashi gradations and fabric pattern details. Yamakawa's bijin-ga subjects are consistently popular with collectors who appreciate their balance of traditional elegance and modern sensibility. His best designs such as 'Sash' (Obi) and 'Dancing Figure' (Mai Sugata) are genuinely scarce and achieve strong prices when they appear. Lesser-known subjects and posthumous editions: $500–$2,000. Good lifetime editions: $2,000–$5,000. Exceptional impressions of major subjects: $5,000–$15,000.