Customer Reviews

Shin Hanga: The New Print Movement in Japan

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ukiyo-e, those ubiquitously plebian woodblock prints of courtesans and landscapes from old Edo, are readily recognizable in Japan and (perhaps more so) abroad as archetypal cultural artifacts of Japan, but what became of them in the modern era? Did they just die out? Well, yes and no. The tradition indeed withered in the late 1800's in the atmosphere of Meiji Westernization, but their lingering influence and popularity with foreigners inspired something of a 20th-century renaissance of sorts--or "reboot" we might say nowadays--in the form of Shin Hanga ("New Prints"), the subject of this fine, beautifully printed book.

Barry Till's introduction makes for a fantastic overview of this artistic genre, outlining in informative, straightforward prose its origins around 1915 with the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo, the various careers of Shin Hanga artists especially during its heyday (1915-1937) but also following up on its slow fade as late as the 1960's and its impact on European and American artists. Till describes the distinguishing characteristics of these "New Prints" with astute clarity, especially the dynamics of its distinct neo-traditional blend of Japanese sensibilities and Western artistic techniques. Key subdivisions of subject matter are also discussed, those being ones somewhat familiar from Ukiyo-e but with a different priority of prevalence and emphasis: landscapes, beautiful women, actor portraits, and "bird & flower" nature studies.

The bulk of the book is devoted to the actual prints, of course, and features 102 illustrations in vibrant full color; most are full page (as it should be), while some are reproduced a bit smaller and are printed two to a page (still adequate) and in two rare cases a horizontally-extended print takes up two full pages. A vast majority of the prints are by the acknowledged masters of the genre, mainly Yoshida Hiroshi and Kawase Hasui, but also Takahashi Hiroaki, Yoshida Toshi, Tsuchiya Koitsu, Ito Shinsui, and Natori Shunsen. Many more minor artists are represented with a single work or two, including obscure artists about whom little is known. The prints themselves are invariably a joy to behold. Many are indisputably works of fine art with a refined and resonant beauty and subtlety, and while a few others veer dangerously close to a touristy postcard aesthetic without quite lapsing completely, these too have a certain visual charm. In terms of printmaking proficiency and craftsmanship, all are of the highest caliber.

A fine entryway into an important though sometimes overlooked modern Japanese artistic genre, this book will naturally appeal to anyone interested in Japanese art and culture (especially those with a strong nostalgic Romantic streak, like me) as well as those with a more general interest in the art of printmaking as a whole. It takes about an evening to browse through, but in that span of time opens up whole realms of beauty both humble and sublime.

P.S. for books focused on the key Shin Hanga artists, see Visions of Japan: Kawase Hasui's Masterpieces and The Complete Woodblock Prints of Yoshida Hiroshi. For a look at Sosaku Hanga, a different modern Japanese print movement somewhat opposed to Shin Hanga, see Made in Japan: The Postwar Creative Print Movement.

Small introductory book that will update your knowledge of what happened to ukiyoe and how Japanese woodblock prints morphed into Shin Hanga or new prints in the twentieth century. The woodblock print which was once a group effort became only the artist's creation. It's about the transition and expansion of subjects from the "Floating world" of the entertainment quarters in Kyoto and Tokyo to everyday life in modernized Japan. The Japanese love the sights and sounds of their country and are tourists par excellance from school to old age. It's no surprise that the landscapes of Hiroshige and Hokusai of famous sites translate easily to modern day views of the same famous Japanese places in the prints of Hasui,Yoshida and Kasamatsu. Mannered actor prints become more real and the Bijin prints of geisha change from the artificial to beauty in the natural female form in everyday life.

The Japanese term 'shin hanga' means 'new prints'. "Shin Hanga: The New Print Movement Of Japan" by curator Barry Till is a impressively illustrated and informative history of the 'new prints' art movement beginning with the Meiji period (1868-1912), continuing through the prewar years of the 1930s, and going on to the artists of the 1960s. Profusely and beautifully illustrated with more than one hundred color images, "Shin Hanga" is very strongly recommended for academic and community library Art History reference collections, and will prove to be of immense interest for art students, artists, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in Japanese culture, art and history.

In Shin Hanga: The New Print Movement of Japan, Barry Till, Asian Curator of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, offers a clear and informative account of the Japanese Shin Hanga or New Print movement, spanning the half century ca. 1910-1960, and a selection of (by my count) 103 half and full page reproductions of Shin Hanga works in the Gallery's collection.

He makes the point that Shin Hanga, though clearly related to the earlier Ukiyo-e, does not so much continue it as recreate it after its decline and virtual death (he uses this word himself) during the Meiji period (1868-1912). He explains how the Shin Hanga movement was started and sustained for its half century of life by a single figure, publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962), who, seeing a market - and particularly a foreign, Western market - for Japanese prints, and the supply of old prints exhausted, enlisted Japanese painters to make Ukiyo-e style wood block prints. While the most successful artists in the new Shin Hanga form went off on their own, essentially all of them started out with Watanabe and some stayed with him throughout their careers.

Shin Hanga follows Ukiyo-e not only in medium but also in subject matter. As well illustrated in the book, the main subjects are landscape, beautiful women (the courtesans of Ukiyo-e), Kabuki actors (males, playing either male or female roles), and birds and flowers. The orientation is very traditional, and avoids the themes of Westernization and militarism that are so pronounced in the prints (not to mention photographs and other mass produced pictorial forms) of the later Meiji era. (Till covers this period in his more recent book, Japan Awakens: Woodblock Prints of the Meiji Period (1868-1912), Pomegranate, 2008, again offering works from the collection of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.) A striking departure, however, is an openness to non-Japanese settings, exemplified in the book by a large sampling of non-Japanese landscapes, including such touristic destinations as the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Golden Gate Bridge, the Matterhorn, the Parthenon, the Sphinx, and the Taj Mahal, among others.

Some 31 artists are represented in the book, including 29 Japanese and two Western. Of the number I believe only two are women, one Japanese (Shima Seien, 1892-1970) and one Western (Elizabeth Keith, British, 1887-1958). Here is a list of artists who are represented by multiple works, with genres:

Yoshida Hiroshi (1876-1950) - 35 landscapes, including 11 non-Japanese
Yoshida Toshi (1911-1995) - 11 landscapes, including 2 non-Japanese
Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870-1949) - 7 landscapes
Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) - 6 landscapes
Natori Shunsen (1886-1960) - 4 actors
Ohara Shoson (1887-1945) - 4 birds
Takahashi Hiroaki (1871-1945) - 3 landscapes
Ito Shinsui (1898-1972) - 3 women
Ito Sozan (1884-?) 3 birds
Soseki Komori (active 1920s) - 3 birds
Yamamura Toyonari (1885-1942) - 1 woman, 1 actor
Elizabeth Keith (British, 1887-1958) - 2 everyday life
Paul Jacoulet (French, 1902-1960) - 2 figures

As can be seen the works of the father and son artists Yoshida Hiroshi and Yoshida Toshi make up almost half of the total. Yoshida Hiroshi is counted as a great master of the Shin Hanga landscape, but so is Kawase Hasui, and he is represented by only six works. This may reflect Till's judgment as a curator, or it may simply reflect the contents of the museum collection. So may likewise the absence of some of both artists' best known works (more so Kawase's but also Yoshida's, for example Night in Kyoto). I sense also, though I don't know enough to be sure, that other important artists may be underrepresented vis-à-vis the Toshidas. I have to say that I found this aspect of selection somewhat disappointing (yes, I admit it, I was looking, at least partially, for greatest hits), and because of it I give the book 4 stars instead of what would otherwise have been 5.

I am not an expert in Shin Hanga but I am an art teacher, an artist and an art lover. I absolutely love this book. The images are exquisite and there are many of them. The colors are vibrant and the viewer gets a real sense of the style and aesthetic viewpoint of each artist. The text is very readable and organized so that one gets a good understanding of the history of Shin Hanga and its place in Art History. But it's the images that keep me opening this book over and over again just for the sheer pleasure of entering a world that is so beautiful and serene. I consider this one of the best book purchases I've ever made.

The books provided a good introduction to the Shin Hanga movement, its origins and the artist involved in the movement. Although one can disagree with the selection of authors or prints,the selection is ample enough for the scope of the book. However, before consulting this book, I would recommend some reading on ukiyo-e.

For somebody already familiar with the movement and its artist, I would recommend other books as "Shin-Hanga: New Prints in Modern Japan" or "Ukiyo-E to Shin Hanga: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints".

Overall, a nicely produced book with a good general narritive. Gives a straightforwarard explanation of the movement and the players. Could have been better with more information on prints shown. Plenty of white space that could have been used to explain the markings on each. I would like to have seen more information on how to date a print and determine quality.