Thinking on HANGA

Period : February 18, 2014 – March 30, 2014

An Assignment on Print Making in the Year 101

HANGA, the print making in Japan was given a position as an artistic work in the Modern on the principles of self-drawn, self-carved and self-printed. Yet on the other hand, it stimulated people’s creativity gaining in popularity as an accessible expressive means. This exhibition explores the history of print making from the origin as a print-technology to the various expressions at out time.

The show begins from a large variety of printed pieces in the Meiji era, which cultivated the print as art in the Modern. YAMAMOTO Kanae’s Fisherman in the magazine “Myojo” which is considered to be the origin of Sosaku-hanga (the creative prints movement), advocating the principles of self-drawn, self-carved and self-printed, or the experiments from the end of Meiji era to the beginning of Taisho era such as the art magazine “Hosun” by YAMAMOTO Kanae and ISHII Hakutei are also important introductions of the show.

The range of the exhibits is quite wide: The Nihon Sosaku-hanga Kyokai (Japan creative print art association) which was organized in 1918 (Taisho 7) and held the first exhibition in the next year, and one of the founding members ONCHI Koshiro exerted themselves for the popularity of prints. Their works were some kinds of aspiration for those who tried to create prints. The mimeographs by engineers in local printing studios showed a unique development in Japan. Furthermore, the success of print artists in the international print competitions after the War, brought the medium all the more various expressions and possibilities.

This year counts the 101st year of the appearance of Hanga Exhibition, the two-page spread article in the Sunday supplement of Osaka Asahi Shimbun Newspaper in November 16, 1913. This feature article was republished in the magazine by KITAYAMA Seitaro, “Gendai-no-Yoga” (Contemporary Art in Europe), and the painters such as KISHIDA Ryusei pointed out the questions of print works in that article. We would like to reconsider the interests or appeals of prints, addressing the questions as an assignment in the year 101.

Approximately 250 works will be on view.

Exhibition Information

Venue	The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama
Period	February 18, 2014 – March 30, 2014
Opening Hours	Open 9:30 to 17:00 (Tickets available until 16:30)
Closed	Closed on Mondays
Admission Fee	500 (400) yen for adults, 300 (250) for college students, free of charge under 18, over 65, disabled, and foreign students studying in Wakayama. Prices in brackets indicate group rates.
With the Sponsorship of	The Asahi Shimbun Foundation / The Agency for Cultural Affairs Government of Japan in the fiscal 2013
Contact	The Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama (MOMAW) 1-4-14 Fukiage, Wakayama, 640-8137, JAPAN TEL: +81-(0)73-436-8690 FAX: +81-(0)73-436-1337 http://www.momaw.jp