Shien The variety of names used by some Japanese artists are hard for this Western mind to understand. All of the prints which I have found with the seal reading "Shien" have been attached to cards, some are pre-printed Christmas cards, and some are blank notecards. Those that have dates are from the early 1950s. It is hard to imagine that "Shien" is an artist, unlisted in any of my reference books, who appeared for a short period of time, designed these masterful compositions, and then disappeared - never to be heard from again. This Watanabe publisher's credit was found on the back of the notecards attached to Sh-10 and Sh-11. With this in mind, I'm comfortable with the thought that "Shien" was a "house name" for Watanabe. I have examined and discussed these images with multiple other collectors. The consensus is that they are the works of more than one of the shin hanga masters. The first character Shi is the same Japanese character in Shiro Kasamatsu's name. Therefore, some feel that Shiro is one of the designers of this series of card prints. I am convinced that Sh-1, Sh-3 and Sh-4 were designed by Kawase Hasui. Also, Sh-5, Sh-6, and Sh-11 are reminiscent of earlier prints designed by Tsuchiya Kôitsu. In October, 2005, during a visit to Tokyo, I asked Shoichiro Watanabe, grandson of Shozaburo and current proprietor of the Watanabe Color Print Company, about "Shien". He acknowledged that "Shien" was a "house name", and claimed that all of the "Shien" prints were based on designs of Kawase Hasui. If you've got any opinions, I'd like to hear about them. Catalog: Here are all of the Shien images that I have been able to find. If you have access to any additional Shien prints, please get in touch so that I can add them to this page.   Sh-1 Toshugo, in Nikko Sh-2   Sh-3   Sh-4   Sh-5 Nagao pass   Sh-6 Zojoji Temple Sh-7 Yomei Gate, Nikko Sh-8   Sh-9   Sh-10 Pagoda at Ueno Park   Sh-11 Ukimido, Katada Sh-12   Sh-13   Sh-14   Sh-15     Sh-16   Sh-17   Sh-18   Sh-19   Sh-20     Sh-21   Sh-22   Sh-23   Sh-24   Sh-25     Sh-26   Sh-27   Sh-28   Sh-29   Sh-30     Sh-31   Sh-32   Sh-33   Sh-34   Sh-35     Comments from Collectors Andreas Grund (January, 2005): When I worked with my Kasamatsu prints during the recent holidays, I found something of interest: The Kasamatsu print W-47 "Suenaga District in Rain", published 1939 by Watanabe, shows in the postwar 6mm version, which I happen to own, a small pencilled "Shien" on a corner verso. Although this no concluding evidence that Shien is Shiro, it adds another small piece into your research. Richard Middleton (January, 2011): I picked up one of the 'Shien' christmas cards recently ... number Sh-17 in your list. It's clearly a Hasui, an adaptation of his 'Nakayamachi In Snow' image - I've attached a couple of images, the original Hasui and then one with the 'Shien' superimposed over it - to show the connection. Home Copyright 2001-2015 by Marc Kahn; All Rights Reserved