EXHIBITION: Shin-Hanga: New Prints for a Modern Era: Japanese Prints and Paintings from a Los Angeles Collection

This special exhibition will be held at Sotheby's, New Bond Street, London, in conjunction with Asian Art in London 2024.

The exhibition will present twenty-six woodblock prints by key shin-hanga artists including Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), Ohara Koson (1877-1945), Takahashi Shotei (Hiroaki) (1871-1945) and Kasamatsu Shiro (1898-1991). Alongside these will be prints by two important Western artists who travelled to Japan during the early 20th century and were equally instrumental in the shin-hanga movement - Charles Bartlett (1860-1940) and Elizabeth Keith (1887-1956).

In addition, a highlight of the exhibition are two large and rare original paintings by Kawase Hasui. 

Shin-hanga ['new prints'] is the term given to a genre of prints made in the twentieth century that employed the traditional Japanese hanmoto printmaking system, but in an updated, 'new' style. This traditional system of production which had been the norm for centuries in the production of Edo period ukiyo-e, comprised a publisher who would finance the project, commissioning designs from the artist and then hiring professional block carvers and printers to produce the work.

As Japan raced to modernise, one publisher in particular - the energetic and shrewd Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962), realised during the early years of the 20th century that the Japanese woodblock printing industry was declining as tastes changed and more efficient printing technologies were adopted. Passionate about ukiyo-e, the young Watanabe made it his mission to revive the artform, establishing a studio of skilled block carvers and printers who produced reproductions of classic 18th century ukiyo-e, replicating and preserving almost-lost printing techniques. However, Watanabe soon developed this further into a movement to revive ukiyo-e as a new genre - shin-hanga. He sought out a cohort of young Japanese artists who were influenced by Western art, as well as Westerners who had travelled to Japan and were influenced by Japanese art, and were able to combine tradition and modernity in their work, thereby producing prints using traditional techniques yet in a modern style. 

The majority of the works in the exhibition were produced under Watanabe Shozaburo.

Also availabale to view during the exhibition will be other recent gallery acquisitions of fine 18th and 19th century ukiyo-e including two rare chuban prints formerly in the collection of Henri Vever (1854-1942) by Suzuki Harunobu (1725-1770) and Isoda Koryusai (1735-1790).

To view recent gallery acquisitions online now, go to: https://www.avsjapaneseart.com/artworks/categories/12-recent-acquisitions/

For further information on the collaboration between Sotheby's and Asian Art in London, go to: https://www.sothebys.com/en/series/asian-art-week-london

Exhibition location:

Sotheby's

34-35 New Bond Street

London, W1A 2AA

United Kingdom

Exhibition schedule:

Tuesday 29^th October                9:00am to 4:30pm
Wednesday 30^th October          9:00am to 4:30pm
Thursday 31^st October                9:00am to 4:30pm
Friday 1^st November                   9:00am to 4:30pm
Saturday 2^nd November             12:00pm to 5:00pm
Sunday 3^rd November                12:00pm to 5:00pm
Monday 4^th November               9:00am to 8:00pm