Yamaguchi Gen

Yamaguchi Gen (1896-1976) was a Japanese woodblock artist associated with the sosaku hanga "creative prints" movement.

Yamaguchi Gen was born into a wealthy mercantile family, but he spent much of his life carving out an independent, ascetic, and artistic path. His family was wealthy beer and sake brewers and went to Taiwan in 1914 under the Japanese occupation to expand their business in Taipei. He was the only child. Unusually, he was initially a Christian.

While in Taiwan, Yamaguchi had a chance encounter with Fujimori Shizuo (1891-1943) that developed into a friendship where Yamaguci Gen learned sosaku print making. Fujimori was a prominent oil painter, sōsaku-hanga (creative print) artist, and close friend of the legendary Kōshirō Onchi (1891-1955).

Upon returning to Tokyo in 1923, Yamaguchi Gen's reunion with the art world occurred through a bizarre twist of fate involving his newfound ascetic life and he became a close friend and student of Kōshirō Onchi and participated in the "First Thursday" meetings with Sekino Jun'ichirō (1914-1988) and Azechi Umetarō (1902-1999). His prints developed into the abstract world, which is the object here. On 15. July 2026 it is 50 years since his death.