Toyonari (1885 - 1942 )
Toyonari Yamamura began his career as a nihonga painter. He turned to printmaking at the impetus of the Shin Hanga publisher Shozaburo Watanabe. As demand for 19th century actor prints grew among a foreign audience, Watanabe scouted Toyonari to capture the current generation of theatrical stars, both on the kabuki stage and beyond. Their partnership spanned 1917 to 1922, resulting in the series Flowers of the Theatrical World. It was only after this initial partnership that Toyonari explored other genres, some of which were self-published. During his career, he worked in two different styles with corresponding aliases, often signing as Koka for paintings and Toyonari for prints.
Sosaku Hanga | Post-WWII Japanese Prints
The Sosaku Hanga or “creative print” movement emerged in the changing Japan of the early 20th century. The movement arose from a central tenant: the artist must participate in every aspect of production. As artists shed the traditional delegation of ukiyo-e production and explored each role themselves, the act of printmaking adopted a more spontaneous, expressive attitude. Artists explored with the knife, chisel, woodblock, and ink to push to the boundaries of their medium. Originally excluded from Japan’s formal art world, Sosaku Hanga began on the pages of magazines. It was not until 1919 that the first Sosaku Hanga exhibition opened in Tokyo. Ranging from figural to abstract, the movement flourished after WWII, and found a new, eager audience among American GIs. In this collection, Ronin Gallery presents masters of Sosaku Hanga such as Onchi, Ono, Munakata, Saito, Sekino, and Mori, as well as other post-war Japanese printmakers.
