Koitsu Tsuchiya (1870-1949)

Tsuchiya Kōitsu, born in 1870, in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan, was a distinguished artist within the shin hanga movement. At the age of 15, he moved to Tokyo and initially apprenticed under the woodblock carver Matsuzaki before becoming a student of the renowned ukiyo-e master Kobayashi Kiyochika. Kōitsu spent 19 years under Kiyochika's mentorship, developing his artistic skills and living in his house. His early works predominantly featured scenes from the First Sino-Japanese War, showcasing the beginnings of his intricate depiction of light effects, a technique he refined from his mentor.

In 1931, at the age of 60, Kōitsu's career took a significant turn when he began collaborating with the Shōzaburō Watanabe art publishing house, which was also associated with famous artists like Kawase Hasui and Yoshida Hiroshi. Through Watanabe and other publishers such as Doi Sadaichi and Kawaguchi, Kōitsu mastered the use of light to enhance the emotional depth of his landscapes. His prints are celebrated for their vibrant and dramatic portrayals of Japanese scenery, marked by a distinctive use of light and shadow that captures the transient beauty of nature and urban life

Signature: Kōitsu with seal name Kō