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Before the Storm (March 1920) by Ito Shinsui, 32.9 × 23.8 cm, Gift of Oliver Statler, Art Institute of Chicago. Here the artist pays homage to Vincent van Gogh’s painting Wheat Field with a Lark (1887)
Before the Mirror (July 1916) by Ito Shinsui 44.2 × 29.3 cm. Bequest of Henry C Schwab, Art Institute of Chicago. The print is inscribed with the word shihitsu (trial drawing), marking this work as the first collaboration between Ito Shinsui and the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo, who had spotted the artist’s painting of this image and approached him to be a partner
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he prints designed by Japanese artist Ito Shinsui (1898–1972) feature traditional subjects, bold colours, and realism that went beyond 19th-century norms, a combination that achieved remarkable commercial success. In his homeland his reputation rested upon his paintings (from his later years), but Shinsui’s technically accomplished prints were hugely popular overseas, which encouraged him to design works specifically for foreign audiences. Ito Shinsui was born in Tokyo to a relatively wealthy merchant family. When he was around nine years old, however, his father’s business failed, and Shinsui left school to work at a printing factory, where he was an assistant typographer and lithographer at the Fukagawa Workshop of the Tokyo Printing Company. In 1911, he entered the studio of Kaburagi Kiyotaka (1878-1972), who was trained in the tradition of the Utagawa School, known for their depictions of beautiful women and Kabuki actors. Shinsui’s talent and self-discipline earned him a prize in the first exhibition he participated in – aged fourteen. His early works won many awards, including a prize at the Peace Memorial Tokyo Exposition. Shinsui also supplied illustrations to popular newspapers, such as Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun (published from 1872 to 1943). In June 1915, one of his paintings was displayed in a shop and caught the eye of the successful publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962), who asked Shinsui to collaborate on a print version. The result was Before the Mirror, first published in 1916 – the start of a long and fruitful collaboration. By 1927, Shinsui had established his own independent studio and although many of his early works were direct reflections of ukiyo-e in subject matter
and in style, his technique was considered revolutionary at the time. The artist’s rise in popularity was in tandem with the changes seen in the early 20th century society and the rise of two important art-print movements in Japan: shin-hanga (new prints) and sosaku-hanga (creative prints). Ito Shinsui was associated with the shinhanga movement, which flourished during the Taisho (1912-1926) and Showa periods (1912-1989) – a time of change, as a watershed moment was created when the Meiji Emperor died and the Taisho Emperor succeeded to the throne. Shi-hanga strove to revitalise classical ukiyo-e of the 18th and early 19th centuries that had fallen out of popularity in the last decade with the onslaught of rapid industrialisation and Westernisation during the Meiji period (1868-1912), plus the arrival of new technology with the advent of photography. This movement produced works that were labour intensive, as it utilised the classical collaborative (hanmoto) system, an almost assembly-line division of skills, where the creation of a print began with the artist’s drawn design, which was then passed on to the block carver, then to the printer and finally to the publisher/distributor for sale to the public. The collaboration between Shinsui and Watanabe continued until 1960, this productive partnership produced 63 bijin-ga (depictions of beautiful women) that are Shinsui’s most enduring legacy. They also produced several dozen landscapes. The earliest of these series, Omni Hakkei (Eight Views of Omi), is included in an exhibition of Shinsui’s work currently at the Art Institute of Chicago. Ito Shinsui’s work with Watanabe confirmed his position as the most important artist in the shin-hanga movement, which helped ukiyo-e
In Spring (February 1917) by Ito Shinsui, 50.0 × 25.2 cm. Frederick W Gookin Collection, Art Institute of Chicago
The Prints of Ito Shinsui actors (yakusha-e), and birds-andmovement, Ito Shinsui not only transform and survive into the 20th flowers (kacho-e). helped revive the art of the woodblock century . However, in later years, the In the early part of the Meiji period artist worked mainly in aother style – print, but also helped document the and into the early 20th century, there as a celebrated Nihonga (Japanese- extraordinary changes taking place at was little interest in the shin-hanga the time in Japan, both in society and style paintings) artist. In 1933, Shinsui prints in Japan – the real market for the artistic world. became a judge for the Teiten, the this new style lay in the West, where The height of this movement was Shin-bunten, and the Nitten (Japanese both ukiyo-e and shin-hanga prints from around 1915 to 1942 and then Art Exhibition) and was honoured by briefly from 1946 through the 1950s. were considered fine art. This interest membership of the Japan Art was mainly created by the publisher, The shin-hanga artists’ inspiration not Academy. Watanabe, who tirelessly produced only came from Japanese subject From 1937, Shinsui began to take a English-language catalogues to matter, but also from European new interest in landscape prints and market these prints and the artists he created the series Oshima junikei, Impressionism with the frequent worked with to the West. It worked. incorporation of foreign techniques of (Twelve Views of Oshima). A visit to representing light and shadow that Articles about the movement began to China, in 1939, further stimulated appear in English-language art could explore the ‘mood’ of the subject this trend and, in 1943 during the magazines around the world, Second World War, he published – especially in landscapes. bolstering their popularity. Watanabe The opening up of Japan during this three Nanyo Sukecchi (Sketches from was acutely aware that their best period also saw the introduction of the South), after visiting the war zone market lay abroad, as these new prints other Western influences in art that as a Japanese Navy official war artist. portrayed the nostalgic and often The government, in 1952, disrupted the representation of romanticised views of Japan that were traditional subject matter as it was recognised his mastery of woodblock previously depicted in prints. However, so prized and promoted in the West. design and his work designated as Exhibitions were held in Tokyo (to as in the traditional ukiyo-e of the Intangible Cultural Property, an event attract tourists and foreign residents), previous centuries, these modern that was commemorated with the artists, including such important new- and sent to international exhibitions print Tresses, and later in the decade he of Japanese art, such as those held in thinking artists such as Hiroshi became a member of the Japan Art 1930 and 1936, at the Toledo Museum Academy. As the 1950s advanced, Yoshida (1876-1950) and Kawase of Art, Ohio, along with several Hasui (1883-1957), also still relied on Shinsui was creating more Nihonga exhibitions held in the UK and France. the same traditional themes, just paintings that included folding portrayed in a new way, in such Accordingly, they became wildly screens and albums, as well as hanging popular from the 1920s and 1930s traditional themes as landscapes scrolls – he was equally at home on paper or silk, and for subject matter (fukei-ga), famous places (meisho), onwards in Europe and the US. Ito Shinsui recognised that his beautiful women (bijin-ga), kabuki would often choose female subjects prints needed to reflect this watershed drawn from society or bourgeois life. period in Japan and needed to record He was highly skilled at portraying the emergence of modernity in Japan the modern world using Japanese – and to a greater extent the West. artistic traditions, looking to the Shinsui also understood the world of dance, geishas, or the theatre commercial aspect of this process, as for subject matter. he saw the demand created by The final accolade in his life was in Watanable for his work. This changing 1970, two years before his death, when world allowed shin-hanga artists to he received the Order of the Rising ride a wave of popularity, when their Sun, a decoration created by the Meiji prints were sold all over the world. A Emperor in 1875 and given by the The Eyebrow Pencil (1928) by Ito popularity that continues to this day. government to honour distinguished Shinsui, one of the artist’s most achievements by its citizens. popular prints. Bequest of Earle As undoubtedly one of the most Ludgin, Mary and Earle Ludgin • Until 13 June at the Art Institute of important artists of the shin-hanga Collection, Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, artic.edu asian art | summer 2021
