Shin-hanga - Shin-hanga Creative Peak: Early 1920s

Shin-hanga Creative Peak: Early 1920s

Shin-hanga prints were directed to a Western audience largely through Western patronage and art dealers such as Robert O. Muller (1911-2003). Directed primarily to foreign markets, shin-hanga prints appealed to Western taste for nostalgic and romanticized views of Japan. Shin-hanga prints flourished and enjoyed immense popularity overseas. In the 1920s, there were articles on shin-hanga in the International Studio, the Studio, the Art News and the Art Digest magazines. In 1921, a Shinsaku-hanga Tenrankai (New Creative Print exhibition) was held in Tokyo. One hundred and fifty works by ten artists were exhibited. In 1930 and 1936, two major shin-hanga exhibitions were held at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio. They were the largest showcases of shin-hanga prints at the time.

Ironically, there was not much domestic market for shin-hanga prints in Japan. Ukiyo-e prints were considered by the Japanese as mass commercial products, as opposed to the European view of ukiyo-e as fine art during the climax of Japonisme. After decades of modernization/Westernization during the Meiji era, architecture, art and clothing in Japan came to follow Western modes. Japanese art students were trained in the Western tradition. Western oil paintings (yōga) were considered high art and received official recognition from the Bunten (The Ministry of Education Fine Arts Exhibition). Shin-hanga prints, on the other hand, were considered as a variation of the outdated ukiyo-e. They were dismissed by the Bunten and were subordinated under oil paintings and sculptures.