Featured Artists' Biographies (Y)

View more information and larger image for Hartwell Yeargans's original woodcut, Music Makers.

Hartwell Yeargans (Kansas City, 1915 - New York, 2005) A contemporary African American painter and printmaker, Hartwell Yeargans's initial education in the arts was at a Kansas City high school, where he majored in sign painting between (1930 & 1933). Some years later he resumed his instructions in New York City's Art Students League, studying painting and drawing techniques under Morris Kantor (1948-51). Hartwell Yeargans first exhibited his art at Atlanta University, Georgia, in 1950. During the following decades his art was included in group exhibitions in New York, Connecticut, Maine, Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende, and in exhibitions of African American art at the Karamu Gallery, Cleveland (1969), Philadelphia Civic Center (1969), and at the Whitney Museum, New York (1971).

During the latter decades of the twentieth century the art of Hartwell Yeargans has been exhibited at major international institutions in Paris, Copenhagen and Stockholm. Today his prints and paintings are found in such permanent collections as the Ballerup Raadhus, Denmark, Frederiksberg Skolen, Copenhagen, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, Georgetown University, Washington D.C., and the DuSable Museum, Chicago.

View more information and larger image for Yoshifuji's original woodcut, A Scene in Yokahama.

Yoshifuji: (Japan, 1828 - 1887): Many of Japan's greatest woodcut artists of the latter half of the nineteenth century studied in the workshop of the master artist and designer, Kuniyoshi (1798-1861). The most notable were Yoshitoshi, Yoshitora, Yoshikazu and Yoshifuji. The 'Yoshi' prefix, in fact, was somewhat like a title which indicated that these artists belonged to Kuniyoshi's famous school. As well, Yoshitora, Yoshikazu and Yoshifuji all designed 'Yokohama-e', that is woodcuts depicting foreigners in the city of Yokohama.

Along with the port of Nagasaki, Yokohama was one of the few Japanese coastal towns to allow closely restricted commerce with the outside world. Dutch and Chinese traders and merchants were usually partitioned from the population and remained in relative isolation until Commodore Perry sailed his warships into Yokohama harbour in 1854. Such restrictions, however, could not curtail Japanese curiosity with all things foreign, and this was reflected in the art of the woodcut.

View larger image and other original woodcuts by the Japanese artist, Yoshitoshi.

Yoshitoshi: Japan, 1839 - 1892: The undisputed master of Meiji period art dating between (1868 & 1912), Yoshitoshi's woodcuts are now ranked beside those of Hiroshige, Hokusai and his former master, Kuniyoshi. Yoshitoshi became a star pupil of Kuniyoshi at the young age of eleven and, in 1853, designed his first published woodcut print at age fourteen. Until 1860, Yoshitoshi's art was influenced by the dominant Utagawa style, but after that date he broke out into a striking form of artistic expression that was all his own. Daring colour combinations combined with dramatic and expressive postures began to lead the way, quickly influencing an entire era of Japanese art. This is all the more remarkable when one considers that through most of his life Yoshitoshi was continually afflicted with serious eye disorders and mental breakdowns. At the time of his death, Yoshitoshi's fame was so widespread that he had over eighty recorded pupils. Deservedly, Yoshitoshi is now one of the most sought after of Japanese woodcut artists.

Twenty-Eight Murders with Verses: The 1867 woodcuts known as "Twenty-Eight Murders with Verses" are perhaps the most notorious works of art in Yoshitoshi's entire oeuvre. The famous Japanese writer, Ryunosuke, once commented that he could not sleep at night after looking at the "Twenty-Eight Murders", and in 1971, Mishima Yukio based his book, "Banquet of Blood", on these prints. John Stevenson writes that each design from the set "illustrates a killing in stunning, brutal detail. Several show the stabbing or decapitation of people, with bloody handprints on robes emphasizing the intimacy of their struggle. Glue mixed with red pigment gives the blood on the prints a congealed verisimilitude." * (John Stevenson, Yoshitoshi's One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, San Francisco Graphics Society, Redmond, Washington State, 1992, pp. 17 & 18.)

New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts: The Enlightenment of Jigoku-Dayu originates from Yoshitoshi's last great set of woodcuts entitled, "New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts". Within this series of thirty-six prints one finds the beauty, the horror and the wonder that distinguishes Yoshitoshi's genius. Work on the "New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts" was spread over a three year period, from 1889 to Yoshitoshi's death. Each woodcut was put on sale as soon as it was printed and published by Toyokichi. The set was extremely popular and a second edition was issued by Matsuki Heikichi in 1902. Distinguishing s from the two editions is very easy. The first edition woodcuts display vibrant colours where later s relied upon a more subdued, almost pastel palette.

View larger image and more information for John J. Young's original lithograph entitled, Rio Colorado near the Mojave Villages (Mohave Villages).

John J. Young (New York, 1830 - Washington D.C., 1879): An important survey and exploratory artist of the American West, John J. Young worked both as a topographical engineer and as a staff artist for the United States War Department. Between 1853 and 1855, Young drew onto stone the sketches of Mollhausen and Von Egloffstein for the report of Lt. Whipple's 35th parallel survey. "Rio Colorado near the Mojave (Mohave) Villages" originates from the expedition. Later, in 1855, John J. Young was selected as head artist for Lt. Williamson's railway survey to connect California's Sacramento Valley with Oregon's Columbia River.

John J. Young went on in the 1860's and 1870's to make both lithographs and watercolors of scenes ranging from Santa Fe to Utah. He continued to be employed as an artist by the War Department in Washington until his death.