Joel Elgin. The Influence of the Development
of Paper/Woodblock Prints from Japan. Day 2.
Remember the last post that ended with the Meiji Period and the sinking of printmaking… made you sad all weekend didn’t it? A silver lining to cheer you up…the print production workshops closed and artists began making prints individually instead of using the workshop technique. A more individual style developed, more dictated by the individual artist.
The Shin Hanga Movement
The Shin Hanga Movement was a revival of printmaking that reflected numerous changes including a mixture of traditional ukiyo-e subject Western elements, including an emphasis on light and perspective. Shin hanga was a creation of the artistic blend of Japanese and European cultures. Under the Meiji restoration (1868-1912), Japan became a major modern force by embracing Westernization. And, the West embraced Japanese prints in a movement called Japonisme. European including Manet, Lautrec Monet and Van Gogh showed Japanese influence. Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962) was heavily influenced in his early life by ukiyo-e prints. In 1910, he opened a printshop to further the goals of Shin Hanga.
Hiroshi Yoshida (Japanese, 1876 - 1950)
Snow at Kashiwabara
Polychrome woodblock print Image dimensions: 9 7/8 x 14 13/16 in. (25.08 x 37.62 cm) Sheet dimensions: 10 9/16 x 15 7/8 in. (26.83 x 40.32 cm)
Repository Dallas Museum of Art
Hiroshi Yoshida (Japanese, 1876 - 1950)
Fujiyama from Musashino
Polychrome woodblock print Image dimensions: 9 7/8 x 14 7/8 in. (25.08 x 37.78 cm) Sheet dimensions: 10 9/16 x 15 5/8 in. (26.83 x 39.69 cm)
Dallas Museum of Art
Sosaku Hanga Movement
The Sosaku Hanga Movement was a direct growth from the The Shin Hanga Movement.
Some timeline for you number people:
Edo period “Ukiyo -e” (1603-1868)
The Shin Hanga Movement 1910 until ca. 1960.
Sosaku Hanga 1904 – late 1900’s
Note: Sosaku Hanga grew from ukiyo-e roots, contemporary Japanese printmaking is tied to the Sosaku Hanga. The emphasis on the individual artist that developed during the Sosaku Hanga movement continues in the Japanese printmaking community today.
The Sosaku Hanga printmakers believed in personal involvement in all the stages of the making of a print (unlike the workshop approach) and the embrace of more Western ideals.
MUNAKATA Shikô
Untitled (goddesses), 1959,
large ôban, 430x290mm
Title: Korin
Harvard Art Museums
Moku Hanga.
Moku Hanga is the contemporary name for the practice of woodblock printing in the Ukiyo-E tradition. I’m sure you’ve caught on to the use of the term Ukiyo – E to refer to early Japanese prints, you will see the term Moku Hanga used in a generic way to refer to contemporary woodcuts.
Moku hanga print (moku means wood and hanga means print). Woodblock printing was brought to Japan in the 8th century by Buddhists from China and was first used to reproduce religious texts.
The oldest such print discovered is the Diamond Sutra.
Stay with me while I quickly add some additional history…
The original text of the Diamond Sutra was written in India in the 2nd century CE. The Sutra was first translated into Chinese in 401 CE.
A complete woodblock printed scroll of the Diamond Sutra, dated 868 CE, was found, preserved in a sealed cave near Dunhuang, in Gansu Province, China. Chinese monk, Abbot Wang Yuanlu, discovered the sealed door to the cave in 1900. In 1907, Hungarian-British explorer Marc Aurel Stein was allowed to investigate the interior of the cave. Stein purchased a selection of the scrolls from Abbot Wang and eventually, these scrolls were taken to London and given to the British Library. It was learned at the British Library that the Sutra was printed 600 years before the Gutenberg Bible.
Jumping back to Japan, and jumping up a few centuries to more contemporary Moku hanga, color was added by hand and then, as woodblock printing became the primary, most popular form of commercial printing in Japan, printmakers began to carve blocks to carry each color. Japanese prints use intense hues derived from pigments that are water-based rather than oil-based. The pigment is brushed onto the block rather than applied with rollers.
Ito Shinsui
Title: Katada Ukimidô, from the series Eight Views of Lake
Biwa (ômi hakkei), Taishô period, dated 1918
Harvard
Ito Shinsui
Title: After the Bath
1917
http://www.jaodb.com/db/search.asp
Takehisa Yumeji
Title:Evening Primrose — 宵待草
Date: 1939
http://www.jaodb.com/db/search.asp
Takehisa Yumeji
Title:
Boatman song
1938 (early post-war printing)
https://ukiyo-e.org/source/wbp
Yoshida Hiroshi
Title:
Deer in Kasuga 1928
http://www.jaodb.com/db/search.asp
Yoshida Hiroshi
Erora dai-san-go Kutsuin (Ellora, No. 3, A Cave Temple)
1932
https://www.mfa.org/search/collections
Azechi Umetaro
Title:
Mountain man with a rope
1953
http://www.jaodb.com/db/search.asp
Azechi Umetaro
Title:
Space Voice — うつろな声
1965
http://www.jaodb.com/db/search.asp
Azechi Umetaro
Title:
Flying over the Mountains
Ca. 1960s.
So promises have
been kept here…I showed you a ton of prints and have made you feel better about
the role of printmaking. In a nutshell, printmaking lost some popularity but
moved back to the hand of the printmaker rather than the assembly line
approach. Happy? Thanks for reading and catch you next time.
