OHARA Kosen (1877-1945)

Medium: color woodblock

The artist was born in Kanazawa with the name OHARA Matao. There he studied painting and design at the Ishikawa Prefecture Technical School. After moving to Tokyo in the mid 1890s, the artist began to focused on printmaking with numerous triptychs of scenes from the Russo-Japanese war. This was followed by his most famous work- prints of birds and flowers (kachou-e), often in a pillar format. He is considered one of the foremost artists in this style of the shin hanga (new print) movement.

Ohara used different names when working with various publishers, initially signing the woodblocks with the name Kosan. In 1926 he became affiliated with Watanabe Shozaburo, and signed his work Shoson. When Kawaguchi was the publisher, he signed with the name Hoson.

Watanabe was responsible for making Ohara's work available in the United States. His designs are characterized by looking as though they were paintings rather than woodblock prints with soft flowing lines, and sometimes with just a hint of background.

Ohara continued designing his magnificent prints until about 1935, and died in Tokyo in 1945