Biography

Samurai. Digital Public Library of America.

Markino's Beginnings

Native to Japan and a great traveler of the Western World, Yoshio Markino marked the London art and literature scene with his unique Japanese-English blend of techniques and perspectives. Born to a samurai family that had fallen on hard times, Markino grew up in the village of Koromo in the Aichi prefecture of Japan. In his young adult years, he was greatly influenced by the protestant missionaries near his hometown and through them developed a desire to make a life for himself abroad (Rodner 2004).

First, he traveled to the United States and settled in California to study art, changing his name from “Makino” to “Markino” so that it could be more easily pronounced by English speakers (Ono 2013).

London Bridge, London, England. Lowcountry Digital Library.

After experiencing employment difficulties due to the racially prejudiced culture of the time, he left California and, due to a friend's recommendation, traveled to England. He arrived in London in 1897, where he received irregular art training from a variety of English schools and stayed there for the majority of his life, mostly living in Chelsea and other neighborhoods near the Royal Borough of Kensington (Rodner 2012).

When he was away from London, he was mostly doing illustration work (namely in Paris, Rome, and Oxford) except for the brief period where he was married to a young French woman and moved to the United States. Markino had married her to save her from a troubled home life, but the marriage did not last long. Markino returned to England in 1927, and the couple divorced on amicable terms, the marriage having never been consummated (Rodner 2012).

Yoshio Markino's watercolor painting The Serpentine, London.

Careers in the Arts

Though the beginning of his art career was humble (doing illustrations for newspapers), he eventually gained great notoriety for his “silk veil” technique, becoming a popular illustrator and painter. Critics noted the hybridity of his style. M. H. Spielmann, a benefactor of Markino’s, described his painting as an “outsider’s insight” to London, while Laurence Binyon, a scholar of Asian art, said that his training was occidental but the perspective, showing the scene in its entirety rather than a cropped view, was of a more Western approach (Rodner 2012). Markino was especially fascinated with painting the London fog, and it was the constant subject of his art. One admirer noted that in these paintings, “his coloring is chaste and so refined that, like Nature herself, it does not render up all her secrets at first glance” (Defries 1928).

Cover of The Colour of London by W. J. Loftie,
illustrated by Yoshio Markino.

His illustrations in The Colour of London and his good friend and agent Douglas Sladen launched him into his success where before he had wallowed in obscurity. The painter also interacted with other members of the Japanese community in the city, including Yone Noguchi, a Japanese writer for whom Markino illustrated his autobiography The Story of Yone Noguchi: Told by Himself.

Markino also gained admiration in the world of writing, and was largely known for his autobiographical works, which contained a unique sense of humor often derived from his perspective as a foreigner trying to understand Anglo society. Among the British public there was a mixed reaction to his literature. Many found his work insightful, but others described it as “quaint,” “naive,” or “artless” and mocked his sometimes ungrammatical use of the English language (Rodner 2012).

One of the leaders of the women’s suffrage movement in Great Britain was Millicent Fawcett, pictured above. Yoshio Markino himself was a great supporter of the suffragettes and was a great admirer of Fawcett. She even features in My Idealed John Bullesses.

Picture of Millicent Fawcett. Wikimedia Commons.

One of his books called My Idealed John Bullesses (published as Miss John Bull in the United States) demonstrated Markino’s deep-seated admiration of English society, especially its women, and his support of the women’s suffrage movement. The book is a series of descriptions of the many different English women (or John Bullesses as he likes to call them) he has met over his time in England, demonstrating their beauty, kindness, strength, and intelligence which to him signifies all the reasons he supports women’s suffrage. In the book, he says, “why should you try to cut off the wings of your woman and cage her… one who tries to cage a bird shall never understand this true happiness of mine” (Markino 1912).

But women’s suffrage, painting, and writing are only a few of Markino’s interests. In addition to all those other activities, Markino wrote essays and newspaper columns, lectured, traveled all over Western Europe, studied Greek and Latin texts, and consulted on the theatrical production The Darling of the Gods. He was a perpetual learner and had an undying desire to interact with and to understand English society.

Photo of the Toyota Municipal Museum of Art where many of Yoshio Markino's paintings are located today.

Toyota Museum. Wikimedia Commons.

Societal Landscape
and the World Wars

Markino’s rise and fall of popularity coincides with England’s interest in Japan. During World War I, British society viewed the Japanese as allies and so Japanese art became highly prized and even influenced European styles; however, as World War II approached, Japan was viewed as a rival in many ways, including commercially (Ono 2013). It was Markino’s authenticity and his down-to-earth style of writing that drew many of his readers, but as diplomacy between the two countries soured, he lost more and more of his popularity. When England declared war on Japan in World War II, Markino returned to his home country where he eventually died.

Today, many of his surviving original paintings are stored in a museum in the city of Toyota (Ono 2013). His works now represent a fascinating blend of cultural exchange.

Key Events During Markino's Lifetime

British Women's Suffrage
(Late 19th Century -
Early 20th Century)

The women’s suffrage movement was one of the most influential and important events for women living within Great Britain and around the world during the 20th century. Women have gained the right to vote, to work, and to choose, making them the agents of their own lives rather than having to rely on husbands, fathers, and brothers. Markino participated in the suffragette movement and supported their cause in many of his writings.

Largest Number of Persons in a Photograph. The New York Public Archive Digital Collections.

World War I (1914-1918)

Picture above depicts women working in factories and producing weapons while World War I rages in continental Europe. Markino lost many of his friends in the war, although he did not fight in it himself.

Arms Production in Britain in the First World War. Wikimedia Commons.

Spanish Influenza (1918-1919)

Room full of Spanish flu patients from the year 1918 when the disease spread worldwide, causing the death of millions. Among the countries to be affected, Great Britain experienced staggering death tolls. While there is not much material describing how Yoshio Markino experienced the pandemic, he was in England at the time and likely people he knew and even himself suffered its effects.

Camp Funston During the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic. Wikimedia Commons.

World War II (1939-1945)

Famous photo of Pearl Harbor after the attack by the Japanese. Due to this incident and other attacks on British territories, Great Britain declares war on Japan and Yoshio Markino, after decades of living in England, returns home.

Franklin D. Roosevelt. Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor. Digital Public Library of America.

References

Defries, Amelia. 1928. “The Water Colors of Yoshio Markino.” The American Magazine of Art 19, no. 8: 436–40.
        http://www.jstor.org/stable/23930379.

Markino, Yoshio. 1912. My Idealed John Bullesses. London: Constable & Company, Ltd.

Ono, Ayako. 2013. The Journal of Japanese Studies 39, no. 2: 410–14. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24243140.

Rodner, William S. 2012. Edwardian London Through Japanese Eyes: The Arts and Writings of Yoshio Markino,
        1897-1915. Leiden: Brill.

———. 2004. “The Making of a London Samurai: Yoshio Markino and the Illustrated Press in Edwardian
Britain.” The British Art Journal 5, no. 2: 43-52. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41615291.

Vande Walle, W. F. 2014. “Edwardian London through Japanese Eyes: The Art and Writings of Yoshio Markino,
        1897–1915. By William S. Rodner. Japanese Visual Culture 4. Leiden: Brill, 2012. Pp. 240. ISBN 10: 9004220399;
ISBN 13: 978-9004220393.” International Journal of Asian Studies 11 (1). Cambridge University Press:
        114–15. doi:10.1017/S1479591413000296.

Biography

Yoshio Markino(1869-1956)

Markino's Beginnings

Careers in the Arts

Societal Landscape and the World Wars

Key Events During Markino's Lifetime

World War I (1914-1918)Picture above depicts women working in factories and producing weapons while World War I rages in continental Europe. Markino lost many of his friends in the war, although he did not fight in it himself. Arms Production in Britain in the First World War. Wikimedia Commons.

References

Yoshio Markino
(1869-1956)

Societal Landscape
and the World Wars

World War I (1914-1918)

Picture above depicts women working in factories and producing weapons while World War I rages in continental Europe. Markino lost many of his friends in the war, although he did not fight in it himself.

Arms Production in Britain in the First World War. Wikimedia Commons.