Natori shunsen biography template

Natori Shunsen (名取春仙 1886-1960) was a preeminent shin hanga ("new prints" or neo-ukiyo-e: 新版画) designer of actor prints and paintings.

The son of a silk merchant, his birth name was Natori Yoshinosuke. From the age of eleven he studied nihonga (Japanese-style painting) with Kubota Beisen (1852-1906), from whom he also received his art name, Shunsen.

Natori shunsen biography template

He completed further instruction at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. From 1909 he worked as an illustrator for the daily newspaper Asahi Shinbun in Tokyo. He illustrated the serialized novels of the celebrated writer Natsume Sôseki (夏目漱石 1867-1916), who had begun working at the newspaper two years earlier.

Other literary figures for whom he illustrated included Izumi Kyôka (1873-1939), Shimazaki Tôson (1872-1943), and Morita Sôhei (1881-1949). Some of the authors working with Shunsen also had their works dramatized in the theaters, which in turn sparked an interest in Shu