Creative networks
International Exchange and the Making of Modern Japanese Prints
The project examines the role of foreign connections in the development of the Japanese creative print movement, or sōsaku hanga, in the first half of the 20th century.
About the project
Many have argued that the creative print movement in Japan owes its genesis in the first decade of the 20th century to Western European influences. This view overlooks the broad range of interests that sōsaku hanga explored, leading to a remarkable variety of transcultural encounters that were not confined to Europe.
This project challenges and clarifies the vague notion of ‘European influences’ by tracing the international artistic encounters and collaborations that contributed to the development of the movement. It shows that Japanese printmakers were integral to the worldwide networks of modernist experimentation that defined the artistic landscape in the first half of the 20th century.
Aims of the project
This project forms part of dissertation research examining cases of international exchange between Japanese creative printmakers and artists across Europe, Russia, China and the United States. By focusing on the reciprocal nature of this exchange, the project repositions sōsaku hanga as a significant component of global 20th-century modernism, complicating previous narratives that have marginalized the role of Japanese artists in shaping modern print history. This research also considers these international encounters as key to understanding artistic aspirations and politics in the changing conditions of Japanese modernity.
Related publications
Merritt, Helen, and Nanako Yamada. Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints. University of Hawaii Press, 1992. https://library.rijksmuseum.nl/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=60812.
Merritt, Helen. Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: The Early Years. University of Hawaii Press, 1990. https://library.rijksmuseum.nl/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=95627.
Smith, Lawrence. ‘Japanese Prints 1868-2008’ in Since Meiji: Perspectives on the Japanese Visual Arts, 1868-2000, edited by J. Thomas Rimer. University of Hawaii Press, 2011.
Smith, Lawrence. Japanese Prints during the Allied Occupation, 1945-1952: Onchi Koshiro, Ernst Hacker and the First Thursday Society. Art Media Resources, 2002. https://library.rijksmuseum.nl/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=74143.
Statler, Oliver. Modern Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn. Charles E. Tuttle, 1956. https://library.rijksmuseum.nl/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=95624.
Staff
Maria Puzyreva
maria.puzyreva@rijkmuseum.nl
Anton C.R. Dreesmann Fellow
Marije Jansen
m.jansen@rijksmuseum.nl
Curator of Japanese Prints
Partners and Sponsors
Dr. Anton C.R. Dreesmann Fonds