Biography Takeda, Shintarô (1886 - 1957)

Shintarô Takeda was born in Nagano prefecture in 1886. In 1913 he graduated at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. His career as a woodblock artist started in the middle of the 20s. He was one of the founding members of the Kyoto Sôsaku-Hanga Kyôkai, and he became a member of the Nihon Hanga Kyôkai in 1932. In the 1920s he was active in the children's free art movement initiated by Kanae Yamamoto under the influence of socialist ideas, which he had picked up when he experienced the Russian revolution in Moscow on his way back from Europe to Japan. In Kyoto he practised these ideas by teaching at primary schools. In the thirties he contributed to all the major hanga magazines and portfolios. His usual signature is SHIN.