Hanga

By Izumibashi Bridge -

"Hanga" is the Japanese word for print. Collectors and friends of Japanese art prints are
often confronted with the terms "sosaku hanga", "shin hanga" and "moku hanga". This
article, meant for newbies in the subject of Japanese prints, tries to explain in plain words
what it is all about.

Traditional Ukiyo-e in Crisis

At the beginning of the 20th century the old, traditional craft and trade of Japanese
woodblock printmaking, usually wrapped up as ukiyo-e, was in danger of becoming
obsolete. The Japanese had learned the technique of making book pages and images
using woodblocks from the Chinese many centuries ago, and had brought it to an
incredible perfection.

Woodblock prints had never been regarded as fine art in the eighteenth and nineteenth
century. It was rather seen as a craft, a kind of letter press, copy machine and print facility
for cheap, mass-produced images for a mass market - comparable to the modern poster
market.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century
traditional ukiyo-e had been widely replaced by Western printing techniques like
lithography and photo-mechanical printing machines. The remaining artists and craftmen
(carvers and printers) had a tough time. Most of them made a meager living as newspaper
and magazine illustrators.

The publishers - the fourth column in the ukiyo-e team - kept themselves above water-
level by producing reproductions of famous designs by old masters and exporting them
to Europe or the United States of America.

A New Era of Japanese Printmaking

Out of this general decline, two new art movements were born - the shin hanga ("new
prints"), and the sosaku hanga("creative prints") movement. The beginning of both
movements can be seen around ca. 1910.

Both groups were heavily opposed to each other about the right concept of art - a kind of
philosophical controversy. But both movements had one thing in common. They both
intended to transform the old form of Japanese woodblock printmaking from a craft into
fine art.

Shin Hanga

The concept of shin hanga was the more traditional and Japanese one. The dogma was
to keep the old way of creating a woodblock print in a highly specialized team of artist,
carver, printer and publisher. In this team the artist made the design and at best
supervised the work of the carvers and printers.

The publisher was responsible for sales and the commercial success. In such a team the
publisher was usually the decision maker. He had to pay the artist, the carvers and
printers, and thus was geared for commercial success.

The carvers and printers were on the lower side of appreciation and received less money
for their work than the artist. However, in our view they were the ones with the highest
degree of artisan skill. An apprenticeship for carvers and printers could take up to 10
years.

So what was the modernization contribution of shin hanga? The shin hanga guys added
some modern Western features to traditional Japanese subjects. The essential feature
was the use of light and shadow. The Japanese had learned this from the French
impressionists. Another Western feature was perspective.

But that was not really new. Artists like Ando Hiroshige had used it before.

What is Unique about Shin Hanga?

The third and probably decisive factor for shin hanga was their sales concept. It was
catered from the beginning for export of the prints to North America and Europe. In plain
words, the prints were designed and created in a way that should please foreigners.

Shin hanga images show beautiful landscapes with an intact nature, geishas in kimonos
on their way home under a full moon, fishing boats sailing under a red sky, and above all
that majestic Mount Fuji in the background.

Critics of shin hanga come up with the reproach that the world shown on shin hanga
images was one that had ceased to exist a long time ago. How right they are! But does it
justify the conclusion that shin hanga is some kind of kitsch art, art for people with bad
tastes! In our view certainly not!

Watanabe Shozaburo - the Founder of Shin Hanga

Shin hanga was not an art movement founded by a group of artists. When we speak of
shin hanga we must mention one man - Shozaburo Watanabe, 1885-1962. He was
everything for shin hanga: the founder, the driving force and mentor of the movement. At
a very young age Mr. Shozaburo Watanabe had established his own print shop. In the
beginning his core business was the production of reproductions that he exported to the
U.S.A and Europe.

Mr. Shozaburo Watanabe had a keen and rigid business sense, and a feeling what could
sell in Western markets. He began to give commissions to a group of artists for designs
of modern woodblock prints. In the beginning he cooperated with Western artists living in
Japan like the Austrian Fritz Capelari.

He thought that only a Western artist was able to make a design attractive to foreigners.
But soon Japanese artists became the supporting pillar for Mr. Watanabe's export
business.

The Great Kanto Earthquake

The Watanabe enterprise was successful from the very beginning. Several artists were
busy making designs, and in the Watanabe shop a small crew of carvers and printers
were busy creating prints. But on September 1, 1923 Tokyo and Yokohama were hit by
a devastating earthquake, the Great Kanto earthquake.

An estimated 140,000 people lost their lives due to the earthquake and - much worse -
due to the subsequent fires that broke out everywhere. Watanabe's print shop and with it
all woodblocks on stock burned down to the grounds. But the Watanabe enterprise
recovered fast from the disaster.

The commercial decline began towards the late 1930s when Japan's political and military
aggressiveness in China, the outbreak of world war II in Europe, and in 1941 the attack
on Pearl Harbor, brought the demand for Japanese products to a standstill in Northern
America and Europe.
Shin Hanga after World War II

After world war II, mainly in the 1950s print production soared again. It was the American
occupation force in Japan that placed large orders for shin hanga. Shops like Watanabe
or the Yoshida studios could hardly meet the U.S. demand.

Watanabe died in 1962. With the year of his death, the shin hanga movement had ceased
to exist in its original vigor, although there were excellent artists like Toshi Yoshida who
continued to create great prints in typical shin hanga style.

The Subjects of Shin Hanga

The subjects of shin hanga are related to the typical genre of ukiyo-e:

 Landscapes.
 Nature - Flowers, Birds and other Animals (kacho-e).
 Beautiful Women (bijin).
 Actor Portraits.

For each of these subjects Watanabe had his favorite artist with whom he cooperated
closely and sometimes for a lifetime (Hasui Kawase). They were Hasui Kawase for
landscapes, Koson Ohara for kacho-e, Ito Shinsui for bijin(beautiful women) and Natori
Shunsen for actor portraits.

This was the core group of the Watanabe shin hanga artists. Watanabe was not the only
shin hanga publisher. There were a few more in Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. But he was by
far the dominating factor. There were also a few artists who were independent and had
their own studios and own sales distribution.

Among them Hiroshi Yoshida was the most important one. He founded the Yoshida
Studios together with his wife Fujio after they had come back in 1925 from an extensive
study and sales tour to the United States and Europe.
Shin Hanga Artists

Some of the best known artists of the shin hanga movement are:

 Hashiguchi Goyo, 1880-1921

 Hiroshi Yoshida, 1876-1950
 Ito Shinsui, 1888-1972
 Ito Sozan, 1884-?
 Ito Yuhan, active 1930s
 Hasui Kawase, 1883-1957
 Koson Ohara, 1877-1945
 Natori Shunsen, 1886-1960
 Shiro Kasamatsu, 1898-1991
 Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei), 1871-1945
 Takashi Ito, 1894-1982
 Takeji Asano - 1900-1999
 Toraji Ishikawa, 1875-1964
 Torii Kotondo, 1900-1976
 Toshi Yoshida - 1911-1995
 Tsuchiya Koitsu, 1879-1949

Western Artists of Shin Hanga

And there are quite a few Western artist who created woodblock prints while they lived in
Japan, and whose works fit into the categorization of shin hanga.

 Bertha Lum, 1869-1954

 Charles W. Bartlett, 1860-1940
 Cyrus Baldridge, 1889-1975
 Elizabeth Keith, 1887-1956
 Fritz Capelari, 1884-1950
 Helen Hyde, 1868-1919
 Lilian May Miller, 1895-1943
 Noel Nouet, 1885-1944
 Paul Jacoulet - 1902-1960
 Pieter Irwin Brown, 1903-?
Sosaku Hanga

Compared to the shin hanga movement, the sosaku hanga movement and the artists
following its ideas had a much tougher time in every respect. The followers of sosaku
hanga picked up the Western understanding of fine art, and the concept of creativity.
According to their understanding, the artist had to do all steps of the creation of an art
object himself.

This concept was opposed to the old teamwork idea that had pushed Japanese
woodblock prints to a artistic and technical level that has remained unrivalled in the world
until our days.

The founding father of sosaku hanga was Kanae Yamamoto 1882-1946, a gifted but
hapless artist who - on the way home from studies in Europe - experienced the Russian
revolution in 1916. Infiltrated with theories of socialism and communism, he engaged
himself in illusionary projects like "Children's Free Art" and "Farmer's Art Movement".

The sosaku hanga artists had a nearly religious zest to do everything themselves
including the carving and printing of a woodblock print. In the beginning none of the
sosaku hanga artists had any professional training in these skills.

They were self-taught. And most of the sosaku hanga prints look accordingly: clumsy,
technically challenged, not very elaborate, simple. But that is what makes sosaku hanga
so charming! It is right away the simplicity and the naive charm that makes these prints
so attractive for collectors and art lovers.

And if you are looking for more sophistication, you can find that too. Junichiro Sekino for
instance was a master in all skills.

One of the artists, Senpan Maekawa, brought this dilemna later to the point:

"It took me ten years to learn technique. Later, when I got acquainted with some artisans,
I found out they could have taught me the same things in a few hours."

And in the same interview he stated:

"Creative prints (sosaku hanga) were small and amateurish in those days. I was always
preaching that we had to make them bigger and better."
The Concept of Creative Prints

The tragedy of sosaku hanga is that the artists adhered to a concept of Western art that
has always existed more in theory than in practice. Successful old masters like Dürer or
Rubens maintained art studios with dozens of apprentices who worked under their
masters close or loose supervision.

Modern Western artists like Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali or Joan Miro used professional
printing studios like Mourlot in Paris to produce works on paper. Sometimes not even the
designs were made by these masters of modern Western art.

The mentor of the sosaku hanga movement was Koshiro Onchi, one of the artists himself.
Born into a well-off family, he became the focus point for a group of artists.

They met regularly in Onchi's house for discussions and projects like exhibitions or the
publication of art magazines. Their projects were ambitious but amateurish like the art
magazines that usually were discontinued after a few editions due to a total lack of interest
from the public.

Under commercial aspects sosaku hanga was a failure before world war II. Nobody was
interested in these prints. Therefore the editions of sosaku hanga produced before world
war II were very small. Most of the artists were poor as church mice, and had to make a
living with another occupation like for instance Sumio Kawakami who worked as a teacher
for English.

Sosaku Hanga after World War II

It was again the American occupation force in Japan after 1945 that brought a
breakthrough for sosaku hanga. The Americans were used to modern art and the sosaku
hanga style appealed to a small intellectual elite.

An American, member of the occupation force, deserved himself great merits in the
promotion of sosaku hanga. It was Oliver Statler. He wrote a classical book "Modern
Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn". Oliver Statler was one of the initiators of the annual
CWAJ (College Women of Japan) print shows, today one of the most important print
exhibitions in Japan.

Sosaku Hanga Artists

Some of the better known artists of the sosaku hanga movement are:

 Fumio Kitaoka, born 1918

 Gen Yamaguchi, 1896-1976
 Junichiro Sekino, 1914-1988
 Kanae Yamamoto, 1882-1946
 Koshiro Onchi, 1891-1955
 Maekawa Senpan, 1888-1960
 Masao Maeda, 1904-1974
 Mori Yoshitoshi, 1896-1992
 Sumio Kawakami, 1895-1972
 Tomikichiro Tokuriki, 1902-1999
 Sadao Watanabe, 1913-1996
 Saito Kiyoshi, 1907-1997
 Shiko Munakata, 1903-1975
 Toshiro Maeda, 1904-1990
 Umetaro Azechi, 1902-1999
 Unichi Hiratsuka, 1895-1997

Moku Hanga

The end of the sosaku hanga movement is not clearly defined, Some see it in the 1960s,
other with the passing away of the "big names" of sosaku hanga artists towards the end
of the 20th century. For others sosaku hanga still continues. The idea as such has
certainly survived. But the style and the understanding of younger artists is different from
the classical masters of sosaku hanga.

Moku Hanga means "woodblock print" - nothing more. It is not really a well-defined art
movement. It is more a common name for artists who work in woodblock prints and use
Japanese tools, materials and techniques. More or less it can be seen as the continuation
of sosaku hanga.

To our knowledge there are no underlying theories, no manifests and no organizational

bonds. Moku Hanga is worldwide. Although the majority of the artists are in Japan, there
is a huge number of moku hanga printmakers in all parts of the world who create
woodblock prints "the Japanese way". Those who do, do it usually for more practical than
philosophical reasons. Matt Brown, a moku hanga printmaker from New Hampshire,
U.S.A. put it into the following words:
"All of this is not because I am enamored of things Japanese (I have been to Japan only
in my dreams) but because these approaches, tools and materials work best for me."

To our knowledge moku hanga artists perform all steps of making a woodblock print
themselves. But their reasons are more of practical nature than art-theory based. There
are no professional carvers or printers outside Japan who could do the job. And the few
specialists that are in Japan are financially not affordable by an average moku hanga
artist.

Internet and Computers

Many of the Western moku hanga artists take advantage of the internet and of computers.
They communicate worldwide with each other. The general meeting point is the Baren
Forum. And many artists use the internet to sell their art works. For some it is even the
only sales platform that they have.

Moku hanga artists usually detest giclee prints. These are prints that were designed with
a computer AND are printed on special paper by a computer printer. However to our
knowledge quite a few artists use a computer to create the print design. Their preferred
software tool is Photoshop™.

The number of printmakers working in moku hanga is huge. Judging from the sales of
companies that are specialized in moku hanga tools and materials, there must be several
ten thousands. Most of these are presumably amateur artists who live in Japan and who
may exhibit at the local highschool gym, but are unknown to a wider public.

Moku Hanga in Japan

There are quite a few moku hanga artists who are well known in Japan. But only few of
them are known outside the country. And there are a few Westerners with great
international reputation. Many underwent training in Japan, lived in Japan for many years,
and some have even chosen Japan as their permanent home, most in the Kyoto area.

And of course, there is a majority of amateur artists whose works are simply not good
enough for a professional career. The most exciting category in our view are those
professional Japanese artists whose works have never been presented to a public outside
Japan. We guess there are a few hundred if not thousands out there whose works stand
for high excellence.
The world of moku hanga is like a huge field full of treasures well-hidden and difficult to
find. And often it is difficult to convince the Japanese artists to come out of their hiding-
places. Many speak only Japanese and have no e-mail address. Only very, very few have
a web site. And all of them have one thing in common: a deep suspicion towards
foreigners.

This is where we at artelino try to become active and where we have found a new
challenge!