Elizabeth Keith

Elizabeth Keith (30 April 1887 – 1956) was a Scottish artist and writer. She was a print-maker and watercolorist whose works were significantly influenced by her travels to Japan, China, Korea and the Philippines.

Early life "Korean Bride" from Old Korea: the Land of Morning Calm, by Elizabeth Keith and Elspet Keith Robertson Scott, 1946. Keith was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. She was a cousin to Sir Arthur Keith. It is uncertain, however, if Keith was born in 1887 or 1888.

Career Keith's work consists of prints depicting Asian life and culture, a fascination she acquired when she travelled to Tokyo at the age of 28 and remained there for nine years. In her first year in Japan, she had a small exhibition with caricatures of foreign residents in Tokyo, which she published as a book benefiting the Red Cross entitled Grin and Bear It. Watanabe Shōzaburō, the Shin-hanga publisher saw her exhibition and convinced Keith to transform one into a woodblock print - a view of the East Gate in Seoul.

Keith would continue her travels throughout Asia, visiting China, Korea, and the Philippines, gathering more subjects for her artwork. She learned the methods of traditional Japanese woodblock printing, emulating the work of Katsushika Hokusai, Ando Hiroshige, and Kitagawa Utamaro. Keith’s work gained popularity not only in Japan, but also in London and New York. Landscapes, people in traditional and common dress, and cultural rituals were central to her imagery. She also created portrait prints in the vein of a Chinese painted portrait tradition called or "pleasure portraits."

In 1924 Keith returned to Britain where she started to learn colour etching techniques, and in 1925 began to print her own works, using an initial seal "in the oriental manner" to sign them. During World War II, Keith raised money to assist Chinese women affected by Japan's military violence, though she apparently "retained warm feelings for her many Japanese friends." Her portfolio consists of more than a hundred woodblock prints and about a dozen color etchings. All of her woodblock prints are signed in pencil. The signatures are however today often very faded.