著者

石井 香絵

出版者

国文学研究資料館

雑誌

国文学研究資料館紀要 = The Bulletin of The National Institure of Japanese Literature (ISSN:18802230)

巻号頁・発行日

no.43, pp.147-181, 2017-03-16

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明治二一年、フランス留学から帰国した合田清は、洋画家山本芳翠とともに生巧館を設立し、日本に本格的な木口木版の技術をもたらした。初期の新聞附録から雑誌の表紙、挿絵、口絵、教科書の口絵、挿絵、広告、商標、パッケージなどの多くの複製メディアに登場し、生巧館は出版文化の隆盛とともにその活動が広く知られることとなった。しかしその全貌については不明な点が多く、研究も充分には進められていない。国文学研究資料館には生巧館が残した木口木版による膨大な数の清刷り(印刷にかける前の試し刷り)が所蔵されている。本稿では特定研究「生巧館制作による木口木版の研究―国文学研究資料館所蔵品を中心に」のこれまでの研究成果をふまえ、生巧館設立前後の時代を見直しつつ当館所蔵品の美術および歴史的価値について考察する。初期新聞附録の時代、続く雑誌・教科書の時代、後年の時代それぞれの活動状況と所蔵品がどのように関連づけられるか検討し、併せて所蔵品を手がかりに生巧館の活動の一端を明らかにしていくことを試みる。The wood block artist Gōda Kiyoshi (1862-1938) returned to Japan from a period of study in France in the twenty-first year of Meiji (1888). It was at this time that he united with Yamamoto Hōsui (1850-1906), an artist skilled in Western painting, to form the Seikō Society, which was dedicated to transmitting the techniques of wood engraving throughout Japan. The Seikō Studio, working in a time when publishing culture was at its peak, became widely known for their woodblock prints, many of which appeared in such mass-produced media as newspapers, magazines, textbooks, advertisements, as well as on business signs and the packaging for various products. Despite their fame, current research has yet to offer us a convincing picture of the overall activities of the Seikō Studio. The National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL) has in its possession an enormous number of test prints-those made in order to test the quality of theoriginal engraving before mass production - taken from woodblock engravings produced by the Seikō Studio. By taking into account research already conducted at NIJL on this subject, and by reexamining those historical circumstances surrounding the establishment of the Seikō Studio, this paper aims at evaluating these test prints in respect to both their artistic as well as their historical value. I will attempt, through an examination of these objects, to give a clear picture of the development of the studio’s work, tracing its appearance, first in newspapers, then in magazines and textbooks, and finally, later on, in other forms of media.