Watanabe Shozaburo

Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962) was a Japanese print publisher and the driving force behind the Japanese printmaking movement known as shin hanga. He started his career working for the export company of Kobayashi Bunshichi, which gave him an opportunity to learn about exporting art prints. In 1908, Watanabe married Chiyo, a daughter of the woodblock carver Chikamatsu.

Watanabe published woodblock prints that combined traditional Japanese techniques with elements of contemporary Western painting. He employed highly skilled carvers and printers, and commissioned artists to design prints that combined traditional Japanese style with elements of modern Western painting, such as perspective and shadows. Watanabe coined the term "shin hanga" in 1915 to describe such prints. Charles W. Bartlett, Hashiguchi Goyō, Kawase Hasui, Hiroshi Yoshida, Shiro Kasamatsu, Torii Kotondo, Ohara Koson (Shoson), Terashima Shimei, Ito Shinsui, Takahashi Shotei (Hiroaki) and Yamakawa Shuho are among the artists whose work he published.

Watanabe exported most of his shin hanga prints to the United States and Europe due to a lack of Japanese interest. After the close of World War II his heirs continued the business, which still operates.

References

* Machida Shiritsu Kokusai Hanga Bijutsukan, "Taishōo jojō shinhanga no bi ten, Watanabe Shōzaburō to shinhanga undō", Tokyo, Machida-shi, Machida Shiritsu, Kokusai Hanga Bijutsukan, 1989.