Shin-hanga

was an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods, that revitalized the traditional '' ukiyo-e'' art rooted in the Edo and Meiji periods (17th–19th century). It maintained the traditional ''ukiyo-e'' collaborative system (''hanmoto'' system) where the artist, carver, printer, and publisher engaged in division of labor, as opposed to the parallel ''sōsaku-hanga'' (creative prints) movement which advocated the principles of "self-drawn" (''jiga''), "self-carved" (''jikoku'') and "self-printed" (''jizuri''), according to which the artist, with the desire of expressing the self, is the sole creator of art.

The movement was initiated and nurtured by publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885–1962), and flourished from around 1915 to 1942, resuming on a smaller scale after the Second World War through the 1950s and 1960s. Inspired by European Impressionism (which itself had drawn from ukiyo-e), the artists incorporated Western elements such as the effects of light and the expression of individual moods, but focused on strictly traditional themes of landscapes (''fukeiga''), famous places ('' meishō''), beautiful women (''bijinga''), kabuki actors ('' yakusha-e''), and birds-and-flowers ('' kachō-e'').

History

''Shin-hanga'' prints were directed to a Western audience largely through Western patronage and art dealers such as Robert O. Muller (1911-2003). Primarily aimed at foreign markets, ''shin-hanga'' prints appealed to Western taste for nostalgic and romanticized views of Japan and as such, enjoyed immense popularity overseas. In the 1920s, there were articles on ''shin-hanga'' in the ''International Studio'', '' The Studio'', ''The Art News'' and ''The Art Digest'' magazines. In 1921, a ''Shinsaku-hanga Tenrankai'' ("New Creative Print Exhibition") was held in Tokyo. One hundred and fifty works by ten artists were exhibited. In 1930 and 1936, two major ''shin-hanga'' exhibitions were held at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. They were the largest showcases of ''shin-hanga'' prints at the time.

There was not much domestic market for ''shin-hanga'' prints in Japan. ''Ukiyo-e'' prints were considered by the Japanese as mass commercial products, as opposed to the European view of ''ukiyo-e'' as fine art during the climax of Japonisme. After decades of modernization and Westernization during the Meiji era, architecture, art and clothing in Japan came to follow Western modes. Japanese art students were trained in the Western tradition. Western oil paintings ('' yōga'') were considered high art and received official recognition from the Bunten (The Ministry of Education Fine Arts Exhibition). ''Shin-hanga'' prints, on the other hand, were considered as a variation of the outdated ''ukiyo-e''. They were dismissed by the Bunten and were subordinated under oil paintings and sculptures.

''Shin-hanga'' declined as the military government tightened its control over the arts and culture during wartime. In 1939, the Army Art Association was established under the patronage of the Army Information Section to promote war art. By 1943, an official commission for war painting was set up and artists’ materials were rationed. Overseas market for Japanese prints declined drastically at the same time.

Demand for ''shin-hanga'' never regained its momentum postwar. Nevertheless a small number of artists continued in the tradition. Artists such as Shinsui Itō (1898–1972) and (1907–1980) continued to utilize the collaborative system during the 1960s and 1970s. In the last decades of the 20th century publishers instead concentrated on making reproductions of early 20th century ''shin-hanga;'' meanwhile ''sōsaku-hanga'' enjoyed immense popularity and prestige in the international art scene. The early 21st century has seen somewhat of a resurgence in ''shin-hanga'' popularity notably in market demand for earlier masters such as Kawase Hasui (1883–1957) and Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950), and for new artists continuing the ''shin-hanga'' aesthetic such as Paul Binnie (1967–). Steve Jobs, the head of Apple, was among the prominent collectors of ''shin-hanga''.

Notable artists

*Hashiguchi Goyō
*
*Itō Shinsui
*Kaburagi Kiyokata
*Kawase Hasui
*Elizabeth Keith
* Kitano Tsunetomi
* Kobayakawa Kiyoshi
* Kojima Gyokuhō
*Natori Shunsen
* Ohara Koson
* Koichi Okada
* Ota Masamitsu (also known as Ota Gako)
* Settai Komura
*
*Shiro Kasamatsu
*Takahashi Shōtei (also known as Hiroaki)
* Takeji Asano
* Torii Kotondo
*Tsuchiya Koitsu
*Tsuchiya Rakusan
*Yamakawa Shūhō
*Yamamura Toyonari
*Yoshida Hiroshi

References

Further reading

*Blair, Dorothy. ''Modern Japanese prints: printed from a photographic reproduction of two exhibition catalogues of modern Japanese prints published by the Toledo Museum of Art in 1930-1936''. Ohio: Toledo Museum of Art, 1997.
*Brown, K. and Goodall-Cristante, H. ''Shin-Hanga: New Prints in Modern Japan''. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1996.
*Hamanoka, Shinji. ''Female Image: 20th Century Prints of Japanese Beauties''. Hotei Publishing 2000.
*Jenkins, D. ''Images of a Changing World: Japanese Prints of the Twentieth Century''. Portland: Portland Art Museum, 1983.
*Menzies, Jackie. ''Modern boy, Modern Girl: Modernity in Japanese Art 1910-1935''. Sydney, Australia: Art Gallery NSW, c1998.
* Merritt, Helen and Nanako Yamada. (1995). ''Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints, 1900-1975.'' Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ;
OCLC 247995392
*Merritt, Helen. ''Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press 1990.
*Mirviss, Joan B. ''Printed to Perfection: Twentieth-century Japanese Prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection''. Washington D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution and Hotei Publishing 2004.
* Newland, Amy Reigle. (2005). ''Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints.'' Amsterdam: Hotei.
OCLC 61666175

*Smith, Lawrence. ''Modern Japanese Prints 1912-1989''. New York, London, Paris: Cross River Press, 1994.
*Swinton, Elizabeth de Sabato. ''Terrific Tokyo: A panorama in Prints from the 1860s to the 1930s''. Worcester: Worcester Art Museum, 1998.
*Masuda, Koh. ''Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary'', Kenkyusha Limited, Tokyo 1991,

External links

Video showing the printing of a shin-hanga work
by craftsman David Bull (16 mins)
"The Shin Hanga Movement in America"
Video lecture by Dr. Kendall Brown on roles played by artist Hiroshi Yoshida and museum professional J. Arthur MacLean in disseminating the art (50 mins)
Shin hanga — ''Viewing Japanese Prints''
website by John Fiorillo
''Dream Worlds: Modern Japanese Prints and Paintings from the Robert O. Muller Collection''
Online Exhibition

Information about the man behind one of the most well known collections of Shin Hanga.

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20th century in art
20th century in Japan
Ukiyo-e genres
Schools of Japanese art
Impressionism