Saru Gallery
       Japanese Prints & Japanese Paintings

Biography Itô, Takashi (1894 - 1982)

Itô Takashi studied painting under Kaburagi Kiyokata. Subsequently he attended the Tokyo School of Fine Arts and studied with Yûki Somei (1875-1957). Takashi primarily worked as a painter and designed woodblocks sporadically. In the first part of his career as a woodblock artist he primarily worked in black-and-white. Like many of his contemporaries his early work was destroyed during the Great Earthquake of 1923. He designed about 85 woodblock prints during his life, from the early 1920s through 1965.




In spite of showing a strong similarity with the work of Hasui, and especially with Itô Shinsui's landscapes, Itô Takashi's work is instantly recognizable: strong outlines, clear contrasts and balanced compositions.