Ishiwata Koitsu (Yoshimi, Tōkō)
Japanese, 1897 - 1987
Biography
Koitsu is listed in some sources under his given name of Ishiwata Shoichiro. His family name is sometimes given as Ishiwatari. To add further possible confusion there is a different artist, not represented in this catalogue, named Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870-1949), who also made woodblock prints for Watanabe. Ishiwata Koitsu was born in Shiba, Tokyo, and learned the techniques of textile design and 'Nihonga'-style painting from his brother-in-law Igusa Senshin. In 1917 he was introduced to Kawase Hasui (q.v.) and became fascinated by woodblock printing. After the 1923 Kanto earthquake he joined the design department of Nozawaya, a Yokohama department store, where he was very successful. The city provided the subject-matter for many of his prints, which he took up as a full-time occupation in 1930. He published first with Watanabe, but his subtle, dark and low-key subjects seem not to have been successful with Western customers, and around 1935 he switched to working with Kato Junji. According to the latter, he began also to use stencil from 1943. Apart from his Yokohama prints, he did series on toys and on hot-spring resorts.
Bibliography
Smith, Lawrence, 'Modern Japanese Prints 1912-1989: Woodblocks and Stencils', BMP, London, 1994, p. 25 and no. 45.
Merritt, Helen, 'Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years', University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1990, pp. 65-6.
Merritt, Helen, and Yamada, Nanako, 'Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints 1900-1975', University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu, 1992, p. 45.
Kato, Junzo (ed.), 'Kindai Nihon hanga taikei', III, Mainichi Shinbun, Tokyo, 1975, p. 273, and good colour reproductions on pls 234-8.
Smith, Lawrence, 'The Japanese Print Since 1900: Old Dreams and New Visions', BMP, London, 1983, no. 75.
Person TypeIndividual
