Preface by Elise Wessels.

During the 19th century Japanese prints of the ukiyo-e (pictures of the ‘floating world’) tradition, captured the attention of audiences in Europe and the United States, and were sought after vigorously by collectors, museums and artist on both continents; at the same time, the traditional Japanese printmaking world faced near extinction due to the onslaught of rival printing techniques imported from the West. However, two new and completely different trends in Japanese printmaking emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. A renewed form of ukiyo-e was established by publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō which relied heavily on Japanese traditional but also modern imagery, the so-called Shin-hanga, ‘new prints’. Apart from these prints a new type of artist appeared, who was more interested in independence and having control over their own creativity, and therefore made Sōsaku-hanga, ‘creative prints’. This catalogue is an introduction to the collection at Nihon no hanga, but most of all the birth of these two fascinating print traditions.

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