Shin-hanga

The movement was initiated and nurtured by publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885–1962), and flourished from around 1915 to 1942, resuming on a smaller scale after the Second World War through the 1950s and 1960s.

Shin-hanga artists incorporated Western elements such as the impression of light and the expression of individual moods.

Watanabe considered shin-hanga to be fine art (geijutsu) and separate from shinsaku-hanga, the term that he used to describe less labor-intensive souvenir prints such as those by Takahashi Shōtei.

Primarily aimed at foreign markets, shin-hanga prints appealed to Western taste for nostalgic and romanticized views of Japan and as such, enjoyed immense popularity overseas.

The first shin-hanga exported were Capelari and Bartlett prints in 1916, however, no foreign exhibitions were held until at Boston in March 1924.

[3] Through the 1930s and then after the Second World War, art dealers such as Robert O. Muller (1911-2003) imported shin-hanga to satisfy Western demand.

Artists such as Itō Shinsui (1898–1972) and Shimura Tatsumi [ja] (1907–1980) continued to utilize the collaborative system during the 1960s and 1970s.

Techniques characterized by continuing to replicate the hand-drawn brushstrokes of ukiyo-e (shin-hanga expressly resisted replicating brushstrokes) while beginning to eschew contour lines and large flat areas of color typical of historical ukiyo-e.[9] This style was very popular early on with tourists in Japan (Watanabe described them as "souvenir prints") and for foreign export.

The best known shinsaku-hanga artists were Takahashi Shōtei, Ohara Koson, Ito Sozan and Narazaki Eisho.