The women of Shin Hanga - Allen Hockley

Shin hanga (new prints) were an early-twentieth-century revival of traditional Japanese woodblock prints that had enjoyed tremendous appeal during the previous two centuries. Though inspired by their predecessors, shin hanga artists engaged with issues specific to their own time, especially in their depictions of women, where traditional conceptions of femininity competed with Western fashions and the loose morals of "modern girls." Tracing the development of this fascinating visual culture, this exhibition catalogue examines the strategies shin hanga artists developed to retain and enhance the essential aesthetic qualities of traditional woodblock prints while negotiating dramatic changes in their social, cultural, and artistic environments.