杉浦非水

Born in Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture in 1876. Real name Tsutomu, childhood name Kazuo. In 1879 his father Shiraishi Tomotada left Matsuyama for work and Hisui was entrusted to his mother’s birth family, the Sugiura family. At the age of 10 he was adopted by the Sugiura family and removed from the Shiraishi family register. Hisui enjoyed drawing pictures from a young age, and while a student at Ehime Prefecture Ordinary Middle School (private Iyo Ordinary Middle School, present-day Ehime Prefectural Matsuyama East High School), he studied painting under the Shijō school painter Matsuura Ganki. He was unsatisfied with Nihonga’s traditional copying model works training method, so he threw himself into drawing images of the plants, flowers, and animals he saw around him. In 1897 he traveled to Tokyo where he entered the Elective Course of the Japanese-Style Painting Department of Tokyo Bijutsu Gakkō (Tokyo Fine Arts School, present-day Tokyo University of the Arts). He studied Nihonga under Maruyama school painter Kawabata Gyokushō, but then the following year he became acquainted with Kuroda Seiki, the Western-style painter then a professor at Tokyo Fine Arts School. Close interactions followed as Kuroda trained him in the French language and Western-style painting. In 1901 Kuroda returned from a year of study in France and Hisui saw the reproductions of works by avant-garde artists, books, and catalogues that Kuroda brought back from France. He was fascinated by the Art Nouveau materials, and diligently copied the images he found by Alphonse Mucha and others. This experience was a major factor in Hisui’s decision to pursue a career in graphic design. Strong Art Nouveau influence can be seen in “Karuta of ‘Midaregami’” (Mie Prefectural Art Museum, et al.), his joint work produced that year with Western-style painter Nakazawa Hiromitsu, a fellow lodger with the Kuroda family. In 1902 Kuroda’s recommendation led to Hisui’s hiring by the Graphics Division of Miwa Printing 三和印刷店図案部, a newly established firm preparing for the holding of the Fifth National Industrial Exposition scheduled for the following year. Hisui was involved in the graphics in the exposition’s magazine “Sanjūrokunen (36 years)” (1902, National Crafts Museum, Kanazawa, et al.) and exposition venue decoration. His first book design was for Aeba Koson’s “Sōrinshi Senchū” (Selected Works of Chikamatsu Monzaemon) (Tokyo Senmon Gakkō Shuppanbu, 1902. National Crafts Museum, Kanazawa, et al.). Other examples reveal his extensive use of curved lines that were then the trend in cover designs, while also introducing his own distinctive elements such as a fusion with Japanese-style motifs. The following year Miwa Printing was disbanded and he lost his job. In 1904 he moved to Tokyo and after marrying Iwasaki Suiko, he was hired as a teacher at Shimane Prefectural Second Middle School and they moved to Hamada, Shimane prefecture. After a short period as a teacher, the following year they returned to Tokyo where he was employed by the Chūō Shimbunsha. It seems that he started using the Hisui “gō” (art name) around this period. In 1908, he took on a night job at Mitsukoshi Gofukuten (present-day Mitsukoshi Department Stores) while still maintaining his position at Chūō Shimbunsha. Starting the following year he began to design the cover illustrations for their promotional magazine “Mitsukoshi Times” and was also in charge of producing posters for the exhibitions organized by Mitsukoshi. In 1910 he became the first head of the newly formed Graphic Design Department that was separated from Mitsukoshi’s Design Division and left his position at Chūō Shimbunsha. In addition to his work on posters and promotional magazines, he also produced the preparatory drawings for the drop curtains to be used at the opening of the Imperial Theater, whose interior decoration was being handled by Mitsukoshi. Thus he was involved in a wide range of design work for Mitsukoshi, to the degree that the saying went, “Is he Hisui of Mitsukoshi, or is it Mitsukoshi of Hisui?” In a period when design was not yet a commonly used term in Japan, Hisui was the creator of imagery for a vibrant, polished urban culture, and one of the pioneers who built an ideal cooperative relationship with his clients. In 1912 he held his first solo exhibition, which can be called Japan’s first solo exhibition of graphic design, “Shoseki Sōtei Zasshi Hyōshi Zuan Tenrankai”, at the Hibiya Library. The display included about 200 book designs and magazine covers. The same year he formed the Kofukai Art Association with Nakazawa Hiromitsu, Miyake Kokki, and others. Among the group members active as Western-style painters, Hisui was the only artist who worked as a graphic designer, producing exhibition poster and catalogue design. Also starting around this time he published a succession of graphic design compendia, such as “Hisui Zuanshū Dai Isshū” (Kanao Bun’endō, 1915), “Hisui no Zuan” (Seibunkan 星文館, 1916), “Hisui Kachō Zuanshū” (Heiandō Shoten, 1917), “Shibori no Zuan” (Heiandō Shoten, 1918), and “Hisui Gekkan Zuan” (Kanao Bun’endō, 1918). Simplified familiar motifs depicted in clear colors came to be widely known at the time as the “Hisui style.” From 1920 to 1922 he published Hisui’s “Hisui Hyakkafu” (Album of 100 Flowers) (20 volumes, Shun’yōdō), a superb compilation of distinctively creative designs born from his inquisitive mind exploring the natural sciences and how he formulated his own way of thinking from what he learned from nature. Given his desire to further devote himself to his own creative activities and pursuit of art, he reduced his Mitsukoshi work from daily to twice a week in 1918, and the following year he became a lecturer in the Design Department at Nihon Bijutsu Gakkō (Tokyo). In 1934 he quit his job at Mitsukoshi, after approximately 27 years employment. In 1922 he realized his desire to study in Europe and directly experience how poster arts were part of ordinary life. He collected 300 types of posters during his time in Europe. When he heard news of the Great Kantō Earthquake the following year, he returned to Japan earlier than planned. After his return and working from the basis of his experiences in Europe, he published his art theories espousing the importance of commercial art and posters in several art magazines. Major examples of Hisui’s posters produced from the 1910s through 1920s include “Mitsukoshi Kimono Fabric Dealer: Spring New-Pattern Show” and “Mitsukoshi Kimono Fabric Dealer: Completion of the New Building” (both 1914, National Crafts Museum, Kanazawa and The Museum of Art, Ehime), and “The Only Subway in the East Service between Ueno and Asakusa is Started” (1927, National Crafts Museum, Kanazawa). The posters he created during this period adroitly differentiate between the Viennese Secession and Art Deco trends of the day, all transformed with Japanese and Asian motifs and filled with a sense of anticipation about a new era. In 1925 he joined some of his students from the Nihon Bijutsu Gakkō Design Department to form a creative graphic design study group, Shichinin-sha (Group of Seven). In 1927 he founded the poster study magazine “Affiche”, actively participating in both study groups and exhibitions. In 1929 he was named the head of the Crafts and Design Division of the Educational Crafts Faculty of Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō (Imperial Art School, present-day Musashino Art University). From 1928 through 1930 he was a member of the editorial committee producing the twenty-four volume “Gendai Shōgyō Bijutsu Zenshū (The Complete Commercial Artist)” (Ars). In 1933 he published “Jitsuyō Zuan Shiryō Taisei” (Practical Collection of Designs and Materials) (Atelier Publishing Company) with Watanabe Soshū. In order to further spread understanding of graphic design, along with his own creative work, he increased his educational and community enlightenment outreach. In 1930 he was hired by the Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Finance. He designed the packages for cigarettes sold by the Bureau, including “Hibiki” (1932), “Paloma” (1933), and “Hikari” (1936) (all Tobacco & Salt Museum, Tokyo). Internal dissension at the Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō led him to resign in 1935. He then participated in the founding of the Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō (Tama Imperial Art School, present-day Tama Art University, Tokyo), where he held the dual position of principal and head of the Design Department. In 1936 the “Sugiura Hisui Zuan Seikatsu Sanjūnen Kinen Rengōten (Exhibition Commemoration 30 Years of Sugiura Hisui’s Design Career)” (Shinjuku Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, et al.) was held. That same year the Tama Teikoku Bijutsu Gakkō’s magazine “Desegno” was founded, and the inaugural issue was a Hisui special feature issue. In 1937 the Zen Nihon Shōgyō Bijutsu Renmei (Zen Nihon Shōgyō Bijutsu Renmei (Japan Commercial Art Association) was founded and he was named chairman. In 1941 the Nihon Zuanka Kyōkai (Japan Society of Designers) was founded and he was named chairman. Thus he held numerous important positions related to design. In his later years he once more became interested in Nihonga and enjoyed a free creative life, including holding joint exhibitions featuring his “nihonga” and “tanka” poetry by his poet wife Suiko. Hisui was an active collector across his many hobbies, and his works and materials are now owned by numerous art museums. Recent research on those collections have yielded a new image of Hisui. (Nakao Yui / Translated by Martha J. McClintock) (Published online: 2024-03-12)