Urushibara, Mokuchu (1888–1953)

Urushibara, Mokuchu (1888–1953)

Urushibara Mokuchu was a print maker known for his many black-and-white prints of horses. He lived in Europe for many years, and exhibited in the United States after World War II. Born Urushibara Yoshijirô in Tokyo in 1888, he studied mokuhan as a young man. In 1908, he travelled to London, where he was among a group of woodblock print craftsmen who demonstrated printing techniques at the Anglo-Japanese Exhibition of 1910. He remained in London after the exhibition, restoring prints, making reproductions of prints, and mounting scrolls at the British Museum. In 1912, the British Museum employed Urushibara to make accurate copies of a famous Chinese scroll painting “the Admonitions Scroll” by Gu Kaizhi. After the museum job, Urushibara became a member of a group of Japanese artists based in London, including Yoshio Markino and Ryuson Chuso Matsuyama. He collaborated with English and French designers on prints and influenced the English revival of colour woodblock printing in the 1920s and 1930s. At first he carved and printed to other artists’ designs, but later printed his own designs. He took up the name Mokuchu, which appears on some of his print seals. The American artist Andrew Kay Womrath studied printmaking under Urushibara, and Urushibara bought several of Womrath’s creations later donating some to the British Museum. Urushibara returned to Japan in 1934. After 1945 he exhibited in the United States.

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