Sosaku-Hanga: 20th Century Creative Woodblock Printing

    Sosaku-Hanga was a Japanese print movement that began in the beginning of the 20th century. Printmaking involved designing images raised from or etched/carved into wood blocks or printing plates. This was a common form of artwork in 19th century Japan for commercial works mostly, until the 20th century with the exposure to Western conventions and ideas. Sosaku-Hanga, or "creative prints," are woodblock prints that differed from the tradition Japanese prints at the time, with a pioneering approach and individual freedom print artists hadn't known prior. Shin-Hanga, another type of printmaking movement that is considered the sister movement of Sosaku-Hanga forming around the same time, retained some of the traditional steps and other elements in Japanese prints.  Creative prints were 

 

Before Sosaku-Hanga, woodblock printing was a multiple-step, partnered creative process that involved a designer, carver, and printer. The prints were largely apart of the Shin-Hanga art movement that were revitalized ukiyo-e artworks of flora and fauna, portraits of women, and Japanese history and lore. These prints were also commonly reproduced numerous times so pieces weren't necessarily considered unique or high art, until Japanese woodcarver and Western-style painter Kanae Yamamoto's Fisherman (1904):

This woodblock print launched the Sosaku-Hanga art movement that reinforced individualized self-expression, as well as reduced the labor and creative process one artist/individual. Creative freedom and authority belonging to the artist was apart of a sweeping cultural change among Japanese artists, writers and contemporaries, as technological advances allowed for European and Western ideals and works to be shared among them. As evidence, Fisherman is modern in its design and depiction of a contemplative fisherman overlooking a village beside the water. Creases are visible in his robe, and his anterior/left arm are in shadow on this woodblock. Gouges like waves show his robe, grass beneath his feet, and mountains in the background. The unusual subject matter, individualized process, and naturalism of this woodblock print make Kanae Yamamoto a trailblazer in Japanese "creative prints."

As the 20th century progressed, expressionistic artworks became more abstract due to modernization and war. One of the first abstract prints most prominent in 20th century Japanese printmaking is Onchi Koshiro's Light Time (1915). 

Onchi was a poet, book designer, painter and music composition enthusiast--often referring to abstract works as "lyrics," (some created out of emotional responses to listening to classical music) and believing abstract art to be "the true sphere of painting." Onchi's printing process involved multiple carved block faces, overlapping prints, and impressions in his emotionally expressive woodblock prints. Light Time shows four red crescents at the center of a space devoid of color. Concentric circles of differing sizes are layered upon one another creating feelings of confinement. Onchi was a key figure in the formation of the Sosaku-Hanga art movement for his abstract expressionistic aesthetic and emotional philosophy, and is known to have used other forms of media on which to print his designs.

More along the lines of folk art, and infused with religious zeal is Shiko Munakata's Ananda, Master of Memory and Learning (1939). In the 1950's and 60's Munakata's woodcutting prints would be internationally recognized for works such as this that was apart of a series of woodcuts titled Ten Great Disciples of Buddha.

In this woodcut, Munakata employs 'sumizuri-e,' or black ink only, with delicate carvings causing bold, animated lines. Munakata showed much deference to his art and Buddhist ideals, channeling the spiritual energy in nature that the woodblock originates from. The dimensions of the disciple were purposefully large on top and bottom, making up much of the block. The feet of each disciple carved and printed in the following ten years alternated between being black and white, alluding to the duality of Yin and Yang.

Munakata was known for his mingei approach, or folk art approach that was characteristically his own. 

By the 1960's the creative printing movement had declined, but would become influential in other modes of art such as Kindai-hanga, or modern/contemporary prints, which used innovative printing techniques and medias through which prints could be created.

Works Cited

ONCHI Kôshirô (恩地孝四郎) (1891-1955). Viewing Japanese Prints: ONCHI Kôshirô (恩地孝四郎). (n.d.). https://www.viewingjapaneseprints.net/texts/sosaku_hanga/onchi.html.

metmuseum.org. (n.d.). https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/751904.

Sōsaku-hanga creative prints - concepts & styles. The Art Story. (n.d.). https://www.theartstory.org/movement/sosaku-hanga-creative-prints/history-and-concepts/