Akiyoshi Ran 秋吉巒
Japanese painter (1922–1981) who, according to Japanese Wikipedia, made covers and illustrations for Kitan Club, Uramado, SM King and other postwar magazines.
Akiyoshi Ran (秋吉巒) was a Japanese painter who also worked as a magazine illustrator. Japanese Wikipedia gives Akiyoshi’s dates as 1922 to June 8, 1981, and describes Akiyoshi as a painter in the Japanese style.
Magazine work
According to Japanese Wikipedia, Akiyoshi made covers and illustrations for a long list of postwar magazines. It names Fūzoku zōshi, Kitan Club, Decameron, Amatoria, Hōseki, Uramado, Kinbaku-bi, SM Collector, Suspense Magazine, SM King, SM Fan, Bessatsu SM Fan, SM Kitan and SM Play. Several of these titles are discussed in the essay on postwar kasutori magazines and Kitan Club and the essay on SM magazines and pink film.
The National Diet Library catalogue, in its description of a later collection, says that after the war he produced covers and illustrations for many popular magazines while he devoted himself to independent fantasy paintings. The same description notes that he is reported never to have sold a work, even on request.
Books and exhibitions
Japanese Wikipedia lists three publications devoted to his work: a feature in the art magazine Bijutsu Techō in December 1982, the 2000 book illusion: Gensō gaka Akiyoshi Ran no sekai (edited by Akiyoshi Yūichi), and the 2010 book Akiyoshi Ran, Shijō Aya: Eros to gensō no yūtopia, drawn from the holdings of the Fūzoku Shiryōkan collection. The Diet Library catalogue records a further volume, Harukanaru shigen no genkei: Akiyoshi Ran gensō gashū, edited by Sōma Toshiki and published by Atelier Third in September 2025, a 78-page A4 book with English parallel text.