Rei, Yuki (1928 - 2003 )
Born in Tokyo in 1928, Yuki Rei was a prominent artist of the Sosaku Hanga movement. He was a student of Takumi Shinagawa and exhibited his woodblock prints regularly at the annual CWAJ print show. In 1966, he co-authored Japanese Printmaking, A Handbook of Traditional & Modern Techniques with Toshi Yoshida. Today, Rei's prints can be found in the collections of the British Museum, Cincinnati Museum and Yokohama Museum of Art, to name a few.
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.
