Oda, Kazuma (1882 - 1956 )
Kazuma Oda was a painter, lithographer and woodblock print artist active during the early 20th century. Born in Tokyo, Oda received a diverse artistic education. He studied Western-style painting under Kiyoo Kawamura, while he trained in lithographic technique with both his brother and Masajiro Kaneko. Though Oda was principally associated with the Sosaku Hanga, or “Creative Print” movement, he also designed works for the famous Shin Hanga publisher Shozaburo Watanabe in the 1920s. An active participant in artistic organizations, Oda was a founding member of the Nihon Sosaku-Hanga Kyokai (Japan Creative Print Association) in 1918, the Yofu Hangakai (Western Style Print Society) in 1930, and the Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Japan Print Association) in 1931. Oda took particular interest in ukiyo-e and wrote two books on the topic: Eighteen Studies of Ukiyo-e and Ukiyo-e and the Art of Illustration.
Shin Hanga | Pre-WWII Japanese Prints
By the beginning of the 20th century the social fabric of Japan was radically altered and ukiyo-e was falling fast into oblivion. Surprisingly, it was under the stimulus of the Western art world that the spirit of ukiyo-e was reborn through the Shin Hanga or “new print” movement. The discovery of the powerful impact of ukiyo-e print masters on the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists inspired a new generation of Japanese print artists who revived distinctly Japanese subject matter through modern eyes. International excitement for ukiyo-e paved the way for these artists to create woodblock prints with the same dignity, perfection and genius as the masters of the Edo period. As artists such as Goyo, Kotondo and Shinsui revived bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women) and Hasui and Yoshida reinterpreted the landscape of Japan, Shin Hanga reasserted the principal genres of ukiyo-e with a renewed vigor. Browse our collection of Shin Hanga and other pre-war Japanese artworks today.
