Ode to the Countryside

COMING SOON

Ode to the Countryside: Japanese views of rural Japan and beyond

With the onset of the 20th century, landscapes became the subject of choice for printmakers in both traditions of print design. Among the founding fathers of the Sōsaku-hanga movement, the portrayal of the landscape was an idealization of rural society. Among the Shin-hanga artists it was the celebration of nature. Both groups of artists considered their own version as a demonstration of the essence of Japaneseness. In this catalogue we hope to show the shift that was made from meisho-e, images of famous places so characteristic of the great 19th century masters Hiroshige and Hokusai to the anonymity of the 20th century landscapes of rural Japan. Those that worked in the Sōsaku hanga tradition, such as Yamamoto Kanae, Maekawa Senpan and Katsuhira Tokushi idealized rural culture and values. Their choice of subject matter stressed agrarianism and the cultural alternatives to the city. The Shin-hanga artists Ishii Hakutei, Kawase Hasui, Itō Shinsui and others travelled with their sketchbooks and documented an unspoiled countryside, not cluttered up by people and without the signs of rapidly encroaching modernity. They showed nature’s poetic power in full. Their works met with great approval among the foreign visitors to Japan who found in their imagery the Japan they wanted to remember.