Elizabeth Keith

Scottish

1887

1956

Elizabeth Keith was born to a large, well-to-do Scottish family and raised in London. Although she reportedly had no formal art education, she may have studied drawing with a relative who did architectural drawing. In 1915, at age 28, Keith traveled to Tokyo to visit her sister Elspet, wife of publisher J. Robertson Scott. Fascinated with Japan, Keith stayed for nine years, journeying widely in Japan, Korea, China and the Philippines to sketch, paint and gather artifacts. She often traveled with Elspet, and the two published the travelogue Eastern Windows. A Christian Scientist, Keith had broad contacts with missionaries who gained her unusual access throughout Asia. When Keith exhibited her Korean watercolors in Tokyo in 1919, print publisher
Watanabe Shozaburo asked to turn some into prints. Keith’s relationship with Watanabe lasted for decades, with the artist often watching over the production of her designs. After returning to London in 1924, she took up color etching to turn her designs into salable prints. Keith returned for an extended visit to Japan from 1929 to 1932, studying printmaking at the Yoshida Hiroshi
studio. Her final travels in China and Japan took place from 1934 to 1936, with her last woodblocks and etchings made from her drawings. Despite growing critical acclaim, Keith’s sales decreased with the rise of Japanese militarism, then all but ceased during World War II. In 1946 Keith published the book Old Korea, reproducing old paintings, sketches and etchings. Keith made no new prints from then until her death in 1956.