Watanabe Shôzaburô

 

Watanabe Shôzaburô (1885-1962) is widely accepted to be the creator of the shin hanga movement. Being at the forefront of collector interest, his history has been very well documented, both in printed books and on-line. Therefore, I will not attempt to cover his work in depth. However, the links above may be of interest.

Here are a couple of on-line links which I have found to be useful for reference:

Here are some reference books, each of which provide an overview of Watanabe's history:

  • The new wave - Twentieth-century Japanese prints from the Robert O. Muller Collection, edited by Amy Reigle Stephens, 1992. Especially informative is the essay on pages 27-39 entitled, "Ukiyo-e for modern Japan: the legacy of Watanabe Shôzaburô". This book is getting harder and harder to find, but is an invaluable reference and worth pursuing.
  • Barry Till's The Gallery Collects Shin Hanga, published in 1996 by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada. See pages 7-11.
  • Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints - The Early Years by Helen Merritt, 1990 has a chapter titled "The Watanabe Circle".


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