Shoichi HASEGAWA has just passed away at the age of 94. He had set up his workshop in Vétheuil in 1975. A few years ago, he moved back to La Celle St Cloud.
He is considered one of the masters of contemporary printmaking. After studying drawing and painting with various Japanese masters and attending the Kokiga Institute, he left Japan at the age of 32 to settle in Paris.
Japanese artists, at the time and even today, were very attracted to painting in France, particularly the Impressionist and Fauvist movements, and French painters were often reciprocally attracted to Japanese art: Claude Monet, for example, was a great enthusiast. Numerous artistic exchanges were organized, and it was on one of these occasions, which gave rise to exhibitions, that he befriended two painters: Max Papart and James Coignard. These encounters undoubtedly played an important role in his decision to come to France... and never leave.
For eight years, he worked at Atelier 17, under the guidance of master Stanley William HAYTER, who before him had welcomed prestigious artists such as Picasso, Ernst, Miro, Chagall and Giacometti to his studio.
His work, now exhibited in museums around the world (New York's MOMA, London's Victoria & Albert Museum...) is the fruit of a dual cultural influence: that of Western trends and currents, but also that of his origins, which form the basis of his personality. Her artistic universe revolves around the values of serenity, imagination, joy, wonder and childhood.
Note: Atelier 17 operated in Paris from 1927 to 1939, then in New York from 1940 to 1955.
Many artists frequented the area, including Jackson Pollock and Jean-Paul Riopelle, who also lived in the Vexin.
The engraving illustrating this article is entitled "At the river's edge".
