Kobayashi Kaichi (real name Kobayashi Yoshikazu) was a Japanese artist specialising in designs for wood block printed postcards and envelopes.
Little is known of his life and career but I've tracked down some information (there were a few other details that I couldn't accurately translate them from the original Japanese so I've not included them here).
He was born in Kyoto in 1896 and studied at the Kyoto Municipal Painting School (now Kyoto City University). By 1922 he was working for the Kimono Time design house under the pen name of Song Jig. He also worked for the publisher Sakuraiya. In 1942 he married and his family eventually included one daughter and three sons. He died in 1968.
During the Taishō and early Shōwa periods (1912 to late 1920's) Kobayashi created designs for postcards and envelopes for woodblock printing which were heavily influenced by early Art Deco style then popular in the West and gaining popularity in Japan. It is estimated that he may have created up to 700 different designs.
Some of the postcards were sold as packs of four similar designs whilst many others were one-off designs.
From the series Youth
From the series Woman Waiting for Her Beloved
From the series Flowers of Darkness
From the series Rain Falls
From the series Evening of Sorrow
Many postcards and envelopes amazingly survived the Second World War and collections of Kobayashi Kaichi's works are exhibited from time to time.
His style is still be seen influencing the works of modern illustrators such as Kaden on Pixiv:
If you're wanting to see more of Kobayashi Kaichi's works online there are plenty to see with Pinterest being a good place to start.
Catch You Later!
Credits:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/nostalgic_fmy/21717674.html
http://www.scholarsresource.com/browse/period/222?page=442
http://www.gotokyo.org/en/event/exhibition/h25/026.html
http://thebluelantern.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/from-nouveau-to-art-deco-in-showa-japan.html
http://www.mfa.org/collections/
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/小林かいちhttp://www.hoshina-museum.com/
https://www.pinterest.com/
http://www.pixiv.net/
tags:
#Kobayashi Kaichi
#japan
#postcard
#woodblock
#youth
