Shin-Hanga: A Journey to Longed-For Landscapes

In 1907, in the late Meiji period in Japan, the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo started working with artists, woodcarvers, and printers in an effort to revive the art of the ukiyo-e print, which had become sorely neglected as Japan moved to embrace modernisation. From 1915, this new movement gained traction as other publishers took notice, and became more widely known as shin-hanga (“new prints”). Partly inspired by European Impressionism, artists incorporated Western elements but focused on strictly traditional Japanese themes such as landscapes, famous places, women, kabuki, and plants and flowers. This book offers an exceptional collection of this captivating, highly nuanced style.

Text in Japanese. English & Japanes introduction.