Susumu Yamaguchi 山口進: Kamikochi 上高地
Artist: Susumu Yamaguchi 山口進 (1897-1983)
Title: Kamikochi 上高地 Date: 1939, March
Series: 100 Views of New Japan 新日本百景 (Shin Nihon Hyakkei)
Our view is of Lake Taisho in Nagano prefecture, looking towards the mountains of Kamikochi. In person this is a stunning view, with colors vibrant from late spring through autumn. Taisho pond was formed in 1915 when Mount Yake erupted and mudflows and debris dammed the Azusa River. The forest of larch and birch trees were flooded, and the trees died after their roots were submerged and they essentially suffocated. Today there are only a few of these standing skeletons, but in 1939 we can see that there were many more of them, a ghostly forest standing silent yet still filled with haunting beauty. Kawase Hasui also created a print of a similar view in 1927, but it has a very different feeling, with deep greens and blues in the water and the trees looking more vibrant as they are covered with snow. You may see several examples of the Hasui print on our gallery website.
As noted on the BM website: “Yamaguchi was born in Nagano Prefecture and remained devoted to the mountains all his life. As a boy he taught himself woodblock printing. He went to Tokyo in 1920 and until 1922 studied Western-style painting, when he began to work as an art teacher and school counsellor and also tried running a hostel for impoverished men from the country. He exhibited at many different sorts of exhibitions (oil-paintings, water-colours, cartoons, prints), but from 1920 was already being accepted for the Creative Print Association shows and contributed to a number of 'Sosaku Hanga' magazines. Forty-nine of his prints were chosen for the Paris exhibition of 1934 and sold very well. This determined him to specialise in prints from then on. He was evacuated at the very end of the Pacific War back to his home district, where he remained and took up farming, continued producing prints, and was very active in the promotion of local art education. His prints of the mountains proved very popular with foreigners, especially after he was featured in Statler's 'Modern Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn' (1956). His views of mountains have some similarities to those of his close friend Azechi Umetaro (q.v.) but are more forbidding. His technique was characterised by very dense colours achieved by repeated printings on thick paper, using much water.”
More than thirty sosaku-hanga print artists collaborated to create this series of prints, published between 1938-41, as regional conflicts eventually ignited into World War II. Only 39 were ever issued; the last 29 were edited by Maekawa Senpan. According to the Art Gallery of New South Wales website, publication of this series was stopped by the Japanese authorities during WWII who feared that the interior of Japan would become known to its enemies. This would not be surprising given the paranoia of wartime, but it is also probable that there were other factors, including limited supplies and artists conscripted into the war machine.
The series title is stamped on the right margin in red, and the name of the artist’s group “Nihon Hanga Kyokai Sen” is stamped lower left.
Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Never framed. The artist’s name has been written in pencil lower right margin, but it is not known if this was written by the artist himself.
Literature: See British Museum website, the Art Institute of Chicago
Dimensions: 25 x 32.8 cm
SKU: SNH035
