Impressed: Modern Japanese Prints

Impressed: Modern Japanese Prints includes S?saku hanga from Japanese printmakers Tajima Hiroyuki, Iwami Reika, Sait? Kiyoshi, and Maki Haku. S?saku hanga, or “creative prints”, were born from an art movement in early-20th-century Japan. Whereas traditional Japanese woodblock prints were collaboratively produced by a team of skilled artisans directed by a publisher, the s?saku hanga movement advocated that a single artist controlled every aspect of the creation of a work. In s?saku hanga, the artist designed, self-carved, and self-printed their creations. The works in the exhibition all share the impression of having highly textured surfaces. The results are remarkably individual and stress the importance of the artist as a sole creator.