Hideo Hagiwara
1913–2007 · Japanese woodblock printmaker of the sōsaku hanga movement
Hideo Hagiwara (Kōfu, 1913 – 2007) was a Japanese artist best known for his woodblock prints and one of the leading figures of sōsaku hanga, the creative print movement that emerged in Japan. His significance lies in how he reshaped this medium after the Second World War.
Born in Kōfu, he lived in Korea and Manchuria between 1921 and 1929. He studied at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, graduating from the oil painting section in 1938, and during those years he also attended Un'ichi Hiratsuka's extracurricular woodblock course. That same year he became a quality controller at the Takamizawa Woodblock Print Company. He was conscripted into the army in 1943, and by 1945 he had lost his house, his studio and almost all of his early work. Around 1950 he was able to resume painting, and at the same time he began making both figurative and abstract prints. He is generally regarded as a constant innovator and as one of the finest postwar sōsaku hanga artists.