Maekawa Senpan (1888 - 1960)

Senpan Maekawa was born in Kyoto on October 5th 1888. He moved to Tokyo in 1911, where he died in 1960. He made a living as a cartoonist (the magazine Tokyo Puck a.o.) the largest part of his life. Before WWII he did not sell many prints, and the editions he made were very small. He was a self-taught artist: "It took me ten years to learn technique; later I got acquainted with some artisans and found they could have taught me the same thing in a few hours". In Oliver Statler's book (from which I took this quotation) he is depicted as a sympathetic and modest man, who took his work seriously and who created a highly attractive oeuvre. His work focuses on people's customs and manners, on simple pleasures such as hot springs and outdoor life.