Gallery 3: Shin Hanga (New Prints)

The Shin Hanga (Creative Prints) movement began in the early twentieth century as an attempt to revitalize the tradition of woodblock printed artworks which had suffered from declining interest by the Japanese at the end of the nineteenth century. Championed by the publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō, artists were engaged to provide fresh interpretations of traditional themes such as landscapes, beautiful women, kabuki actors, and birds and flowers.

Most Shin Hanga artists were trained in western styled painting and new printing techniques were perfected to capture the painterly quality of these new images. Although this is evident in many miniature prints, miniatures frequently reflect simplified production techniques compared to larger prints by the same artist. This can be attributed to both the small format and frequently ephemeral purpose of miniature prints, which were often tipped into greeting cards or affixed to postcard backs.

Shin Hanga prints rely on the traditional interaction of publisher, artist, woodblock carver, and printer. They differ from Sōsaku-hanga (creative prints) in which the artist designed, carved and printed their own works. The Shin Hanga movement is usually cited as ending around 1960.

The collection has relatively strong representation by several notable Shin Hanga artists. Examples of their work can be found in the following sub-galleries. Yumeji Takehisa is included here for his influence on the movement.

Gallery 3A: Takahashi Shotei

Gallery 3B: Natori Shunsen and the artists of Shin Nagao

Gallery 3C: Asano Takeji

Gallery 3D: Tsuchiya Koitsu

Gallery 3E: Kawase Hasui

Gallery 3F: Ohara Shōson

Gallery 3G: Takehisa Yumeji

Gallery 3H: Kasamatsu Shiro

Gallery 3I: Yamamoto Shoun

Gallery 3J: Paul Jacoulet

Gallery 3K: Ishiwata Koitsu

Gallery 3L: Sin

Gallery 3M: Hasegawa Sadanobu II

Gallery 3N: Shien

The additional works in this gallery represent a number of artists who worked within the Shin Hanga movement and/or tradition. Some artists produced both Shin Hanga and Sosaku Hanga artwork. Additionally, an artist’s productivity could bridge beyond designated artistic eras. For this reason several artists are represent in more than one gallery.

Additional works by Shin Hanga artists can be found in the postcard galleries.  

The prints below are from a miniature accordion book of twelve views of Kyoto (Uchida, Kyoto) by Hasegawa Sadanobu III

Prints by Kikuchi Yuichi (fl. 1950s)

Attributed to Terauchi Fukutarō (1891-1964)

The prints in this section have been considered as possible works by Terauchi Fukutarō (1891-1964). The style is similar to paintings by the artist and the signature has been suggested to read Fukuta, although the artist more typically signed his name in English, at least on his paintings. Most of these prints were published by Takemura Hideo in the 1930s but lack the publisher’s seal. The last three prints in the collection bear the Takemura Hideo publisher’s seal; one print shares the same signature as those prints without the seal. The other two prints have a different signature (unread). However, the style of the prints, similarity of one of the prints to a know painting by the artist, and inclusion of the prints in a lot with prints with the artist’s more typical signature, support an attribution to the artist. A copy of the first two prints immediately below and their associated preparatory paintings from the Lavenberg Collection can be viewed here and here.

Tomoe

The six prints in this section were published by Watanabe and are sealed Tomoe. Tomoe is often considered to be a fictitious name (often referred to as a “house name”) that the publisher used for smaller variants of designs by the artists Takahashi Shotei and Kawase Hasui. As the publisher had the copyrights to the artist’s designs, it is unclear why Watanabe would produce these prints with mild variations and a different artist’s seal. However, according to David Bull, Watanabe Shiochiro has said that the name Tomoe represented Hasui playing with his name; Hasui read as single characters, is tomoe. Hasui was furthermore said to have adapted designs by Shotei and Shinsui to be printed in smaller formats under the name Tomoe.

The six prints in this section are attached to Christmas/New Year Cards. They were issued as a set of prints by the Imperial Japanese Government Railway (IJGR). This set was acquired with two additional sets of IJGR issued prints attached to cards, one set which was designed by Sekino Jun'ichirō and another that featured reproductions of Ukiyo-e images. Although all sets had already been removed from their packet envelopes, one of the packets had the date 1947 written on it which was likely the date that all sets were initially purchased. The IJGR was restructured in 1949 after which most publications simply refer to the Japanese Government Railway. Although simple in design, several of the prints incorporated special techniques such as gaufrage and lacquer printing. The artist for these particular works has yet to be identified.

Set of Souvenir Prints Published by Watanabe

The envelope below was reportedly acquired in or around 1958 as a gift of the Pigeon Bus Company to participants of their tours. It included four blank cards with tipped-in woodblock prints. The print below has the Kawase Hasui seal (another copy of this print can be viewed in the Hasui Gallery). The other three prints included two with designs similar to larger prints by Shotei but sealed with the “house name” Tomoe as well as a unsigned and unsealed print similar to a design by Kawase Hasui with similar proportions. These three prints can be viewed in the gallery above (dated 1958). The envelope also include a small brochure from the Watanabe Printing Co. Additional sets of souvenir prints featuring different images were also produced by Watanabe for the Pigeon Bus Company.