Yuichi Takahashi

A representative Western-style painter in the early Meiji period. Born in Edo on February 5, 1821, as the son of a samurai of the Sano Domain in Shimotsuke Province (Tochigi Prefecture). His childhood name was Inosuke, and after the Meiji Restoration he became Yuichi. His pen name was Ransen. He studied the Kano school and others from an early age, but was struck by the realism of Western lithographs during the Kaei period (1848-1854). In 1862 (Bunkyu 2), he entered the Edo shogunate's Western Book Research Institute's Art Studies Bureau, where he studied Western painting methods under Kawakami Togai. He also received instruction from Wagman and Madame Scheuer in Yokohama, and in 1867 (Keio 3), he traveled to Shanghai and exhibited at the Paris World's Fair. In 1873 (Meiji 6), he exhibited "Great View of Mount Fuji" at the Vienna World Exposition, and in the same year opened the art school Tenkairo (later Ten-e-sha and Ten-e-gakusha) in Hamamachi, Nihonbashi, where he taught the next generation of artists until 1884, including Kawabata Gyokusho, Ando Nakataro, and Harada Naojiro. At the First Domestic Industrial Exposition in 1877, he received the Third Class Flower Crest Award, and at the Second Domestic Industrial Exposition in 1881, he received the Second Class Prize for Masterful Technique. During this time, he donated 35 oil paintings to Kotohira Shrine, and was commissioned by the Senate to paint a portrait of Emperor Meiji. He later traveled to the Tohoku region and other places, sketching. He died on July 6, 1894.

He was the first painter to establish powerful oil realism in landscapes, portraits, and still lifes based on his personal experiences. His representative works include "Portrait of Tomomi Iwakura," "Oiran," "Salmon," "Tofu and Fried Tofu," and "Tokiwa Bridge over the Sugawa River."

[Tadao Ogura]

"Aoki Shigeru (ed.) Takahashi Yuichi Oil Painting Historical Materials" (1984, Chuokoron-Bijutsu Shuppan)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

明治初期洋画の代表作家。文政(ぶんせい)11年2月5日、下野(しもつけ)国（栃木県）佐野藩士の子として江戸に生まれる。幼名猪之助(いのすけ)、維新後は由一。号は藍川(らんせん)。幼少から狩野(かのう)派ほかを学ぶが、嘉永(かえい)年間（1848～54）に西洋石版画の迫真性に打たれ、1862年（文久2）幕府の洋書調所(ようしょしらべしょ)画学局に入り、川上冬崖(とうがい)のもとで西洋画法を学んだ。また横浜のワーグマンやショイヤー夫人にも指導を受け、67年（慶応3）上海(シャンハイ)に渡航のほか、パリ万国博覧会に出品。73年（明治6）ウィーン万国博覧会に『富嶽(ふがく)大図』を出品、同年日本橋浜町に画塾天絵楼(てんかいろう)（のち天絵社、天絵学舎）を開き、84年まで後進を指導したが、そのなかには川端玉章(かわばたぎょくしょう)、安藤仲太郎(なかたろう)、原田直次郎らがいた。77年の第1回内国勧業博覧会で三等花紋賞、81年の第2回同会では妙技二等賞牌(はい)を受ける。この間、金刀比羅(ことひら)宮に油絵35点を奉納のほか、元老院の委嘱により明治天皇の肖像画を描いた。のち東北地方ほか各地に旅行して写生する。明治27年7月6日没。

　彼は風景画、人物画、身辺に取材した静物画に迫力ある油彩リアリズムを確立した最初の画家であった。代表作に『岩倉具視(ともみ)像』『花魁(おいらん)』『鮭(さけ)』『豆腐及油揚図』『酢川にかかる常盤(ときわ)橋』ほかがある。

［小倉忠夫］

『青木茂編『高橋由一油画史料』（1984・中央公論美術出版）』

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