Umetarō Azechi

was a Japanese printmaker and mountain climber. He was known for his prints of mountains and people who live in them.

Biography Azechi was born on December 28, 1902, to a poor farming family in what is now Uwajima, Ehime. He enrolled in an art correspondence course where he would send his work to Tokyo for critique. In 1920 he had the opportunity to move there, but returned home to Shikoku after the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. He moved back to Tokyo in 1925, where he worked for a printing company.

Azechi's prints were noticed by Unichi Hiratsuka, who took him under his wing. He belonged to the Japan Print Association and the Kokugakai Arts Association. After his works were shown in some of their exhibitions, he quit his job and became a freelance artist. During this time, he was heavily influenced by Senpan Maekawa and Kōshirō Onchi.

During World War II, Azechi was sent to Manchuria. It was also shown at the Lugano International Print Biennial in 1956.

Azechi died on April 12, 1999. The Umetaro Azechi memorial museum opened in Uwajima in 2003.

Style His early work was reflective of the monochrome sosaku hanga style. He began to develop his own style in the late 1930s. the Art Institute of Chicago, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and the British Museum.