The Shin-Hanga - The Great Endeavor of Watanabe Shozaburo

Museum “Eki” Kyoto

Finished

Artists

Shinsui Ito, Hasui Kawase, Shiro Kasamatsu, Koka Yamamura, Shunsen Natori, Koson Ohara, Hiroaki Takahashi et al.

The new woodblock prints by artists after the Meiji period (1868-1912) using the traditional techniques of ukiyoe prints established in the Edo period and with an awareness of high artistic quality are considered to be the beginning of "shin-hanga" (new woodblock prints). Shozaburo Watanabe (1885-1962) of the Watanabe Print Shop (now Watanabe Mokuhan Bijutsu Gaho) was the driving force behind this new style of woodblock prints, and he was the one who popularized it. Shozaburo employed up-and-coming artists, mainly students of Kiyokata Kaburaki, as his artists, and through the collaboration of painters, engravers, and printers, he introduced a new art form to the world using woodblock prints with complex and gorgeous colors and techniques unique to hand-printing.

This exhibition introduces works by foreign artists who were the catalysts for the birth of shin-hanga, in addition to works of beauties by Shinsui Ito and others, landscapes by Hasui Kawase and Shiro Kasamatsu, actor pictures by Koka Yamamura and Shunsen Natori, and bird and flower pictures by Koson Ohara and Hiroaki (Shotei) Takahashi. With the full cooperation of Watanabe Mokuhanga, which still carries on the spirit of shin-hanga, we present rare first-run prints of Watanabe's woodblock prints, which are rarely seen in print today, to show the appeal of shin-hanga and the challenges that Shozaburo Watanabe faced.

[Events]
Gallery Talks
1st Talk: June 24 (Sat) 14:00 -　
2nd Talk: June 25 (Sun) 11:00 -
Each talk will last approximately 45 minutes.
Venue: Museum "Eki" Kyoto

Schedule

Jun 24 (Sat) 2023-Jul 30 (Sun) 2023