Japanese Woodblock Prints of the Walter and Martha Leuba Collection

Dublin Core

Title

Japanese Woodblock Prints of the Walter and Martha Leuba Collection

Subject

Sosaku Hanga: The Creative Prints Movement (創作版画)

Description

In this movement which emerged in early twentieth century Japan, one artist took control of the entire printmaking process, from the sketch to the final printing. This is unlike the traditional printmaking process in which as many as four or five artists and artisans may be involved. This process began with the original designer, the most well-known of the craftsmen, who drew the original design on paper; this was transformed to a sketch, drawn onto a block, carved, and finally printed and published. Woodblock printing is a medium dating back to ancient times associated with East Asia, but still used to the modern day. These prints are mostly woodblock prints from the mid-twentieth century, all from the post-World War II era when Japan was under United States occupation. The subject matter of these prints is largely Japanese landscapes and architectural features, but rendered in a modern style, connecting Japan’s cultural past to the present at the time for a uniquely Japanese artistic approach. Because many American occupying soldiers bought and became collectors of these prints, sosaku hanga was first dismissed as a concession to American artistic tastes and was not highly respected among the art community in postwar Japan. However, it was this postwar cultural exchange that helped popularize sosaku hanga prints internationally, and they remain well sought after today from private collections.

Source

Walter and Martha Leuba Collection, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Contributor

Zoe Creamer, Museum Studies Intern at the Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Rights

All rights to the original artists.

Collection Items

Couple of Cats
Inagaki Tomoo was born in Tokyo and worked at a steel company before attending Tokyo Koto Kogyo, a technical college. He later became a teacher of commercial art design, as well as a freelance designer with his own business, until World War II broke…

The Stone Garden
Born in Kobe, Kawanishi Hide lived in the port city all his life, and it was a common feature in his prints. He was a self-taught printmaker since high school, and graduated from Kobe business school in 1915. Kawanishi was isolated from other sosaku…

Clay Image
A great master of modern postwar Japanese printmaking, Saito Kiyoshi was one of the first sosaku hanga movement artists who became internationally known. Born in a small northern village of Japan’s main island, Honshu, Saito moved to Tokyo and taught…

The Pond
Born in Kobe, Kawanishi Hide lived in the port city all his life, and it was a common feature in his prints. He was a self-taught printmaker since high school, and graduated from Kobe business school in 1915. Kawanishi was isolated from other sosaku…

Entrance
A great master of modern postwar Japanese printmaking, Saito Kiyoshi was one of the first sosaku hanga movement artists who became internationally known. Born in a small northern village of Japan’s main island, Honshu, Saito moved to Tokyo and taught…

Woods in Sorrow
Born in Hirosaki, Shima Tamami graduated from Tokyo Women’s University of Arts in 1958. There is little information on this female sosaku hanga artist, but with her skills she received a travel grant from the College Women’s Association of Japan in…

Tea House
The second son of print artists Hiroshi and Fujio Yoshida, Yoshida Hodaka is notable for showing a series of stages in his works; his pieces Tea House and Woods, both created in the 1950s, show an abstract style. His prints stand in contrast with the…

Woods
The second son of print artists Yoshida Hiroshi and Fujio, Yoshida Hodaka is notable for showing a series of artistic stages in his works; his pieces Tea House and Woods, both created in the 1950s, show an abstract style. His prints stand in contrast…
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