From Kiyochika to Hasui: Ukiyo-e and Shin-Hanga Woodblock Prints from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

Price:: 2,800 yen (JPY)

Edited by:: Frank Feltens (Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art) and Noguchi Reiichi (Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo)

Language(s):: Japanese and English

Size:: 180 × 148 × 24 mm, 375 g

Pages:: 252

Binding:: codex

Release date:: 20260227

ISBN:: 978-4-86831-038-9 C0071

Japanese

Bask in the twilight glow of ukiyo-e.

Toward the end of the Meiji era in the early twentieth century, when Japan was speeding toward westernization, the shin-hanga (“new prints”) movement sought to revive the ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the previous Edo period in modern form. Carrying on the style of Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915)—dubbed the “last” master of ukiyo-e for his evocative images of the fading echoes of old Edo—notable practitioners of shin-hanga such as Kawase Hasui (1883–1957) and Yoshida Hiroshi (1876–1950) portrayed new Japanese scenes in woodcuts whose graceful hues and lyricism are enjoying resurgent popularity today.

In this volume, ukiyo-e and shin-hanga prints primarily from the Robert O. Muller Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art feature alongside photographs of the time and other valuable archival materials. Witness ukiyo-e’s last glory and the passing down of its legacy as visualized through the eyes of artists who at once embraced tradition and innovation.

Artists featured
Kobayashi Kiyochika, Inoue Yasuji, Ogura Ryuson, Charles W. Bartlett, Takahashi Shotei (Hiroaki), Ito Shinsui, Yoshida Hiroshi, Kawase Hasui