COLLECTING JAPANESE PRINTS FEATURED SOSAKU HANGA ARTIST

Yamaguchi Susumu

1897 - 1983

Widely recognized for his dramatic landscapes, Yamaguchi Susumu was born in the alpine village of Inayu, Nagano Prefecture, in 1897. Yamaguchi began experimenting with printmaking in grammar school and expressed an early fascination with newspaper illustrations. Working at his local post office, he continued dabbling in his spare time, painting various watercolors, and decorating Chinaware. 

At age twenty-four, Yamaguchi promptly moved to Tokyo and enrolled in Kuroda Seiki's watercolor classes at the Aoibashi School of Western Painting. While supporting himself as a night watchman, Yamaguchi produced and submitted works to as many exhibitions and contests as possible; additionally, he experimented with a variety of mediums, particularly oil-based inks. In 1920 he submitted a print to Nihon Sosaku Hanga Kyokai and continued exhibiting with the organization until becoming a member in 1928. Yamaguchi later exhibited with Shun'yokai and Teiten and became a founding member of Nihon Hanga Kyokai. Beyond exhibitions, he also contributed to Shi to Hanga, HANGA, Kasuri, Shin Hanga, and Han Geijutsu, and Kitsutsuki. 

Despite his growing commercial success, he had not yet settled on a single medium. It wasn't until 1934, when his mokuhanga sold at a major Hanga Kyokai exhibition, that Yamaguchi settled on woodblocks. By this point in his career, Yamaguchi was working as a school counselor and teacher in Tokyo, a position he held while producing art for the next twenty years. At the age of fifty, he returned to the tranquility of the mountains and became a farmer. He passed away in 1983. 

In terms of style and technique, Yamaguchi's prints utilize water-based pigments on dampened torinoko paper and grain-exposed woodblocks. His composition is strong, stark, and evokes a deep sense of stoic isolation of the Japan Alps.