---

Biography

Rei Yuki 由木礼 (1928-2003)

Sources: Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p. 179; Collecting Modern Japanese Prints, Then and Now, Mary and Norman Tolman, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1994, p. 247; Who's Who in Modern Japanese Prints, Frances Blakemore, Weatherhill, 1975, p. 247.

c. 19901

Little information is available on the life of Rei Yuki, a sosaku hanga artist who exhibited internationally and co-authored Japanese Printmaking, A Handbook of Traditional & Modern Techniques with the well-known artist Yoshida Toshi (1911-1995) in 1966.  His work is held in a number of museums including the British Museum; Carnegie Museum of Art; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Osaka National Museum of International Art; Cincinnati Art Museum; Musée Vivant-Denon, France; Yokohama Museum; and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.  In 2005, a catalogue raisonne of his work was published under the title 由木礼全版画集 Rei Yuki Complete Print Works Catalogue Raisonné. What is known is that he was born Uemura Noria in Tokyo in 1928 and graduated from Athenee-Francais, Tokyo, a French language school, in

1952.  He studied mokuhan (woodblock printing) with the artist Shinagawa Takumi (1908-2009) after graduating and started exhibiting in 1954 with Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Japanese Print Association), which he joined in 1967.  In 1970 two of his prints were accepted at the 47th Shun'yō-kai (Spring Principle Association) exhibition and he became a member in 1976.² His work appeared in numerous international competitions including the Xylon International Print Triennial, Switzerland in 1970 and 1990; the Biennial of Paris in 1975; the Premio International Print Biennial, Italy in 1991; and in 1992 the Mexico-Japan Print Exhibition, Mexico City.

In describing Rei's work Francis Blakemore called his prints “delicate fantasies, scenes of landscape that can exist only in the imagination” and goes on to say:


Catalog Raisonné