Twentieth-century Japanese printmaking has come in for relatively little attention up to now. This publication sets out to change that. Shin hanga (new prints) are harmoniously balanced designs, printed on the highest-quality paper using the finest pigments and in small editions. They are the fruit of a traditional yet successful collaboration between artist, publisher, block cutter and printer. It is not so much in their subject matter as through their visual language that shin hanga prints set themselves apart from their traditional precursors.
 
This book presents a unique selection that lets us explore Japanese printmaking in the 20th century. The prints it reproduces are mostly drawn from two large private collections, supplemented by works from the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels and several exceptional items from the family collection of the publisher Watanabe, the person who started it all.
 
Author Chris Uhlenbeck has curated several major exhibitions on Japanese art. He is assisted here by Jim Dwinger, an expert in Japanese art history and specialist in woodcuts, and Philo Ouweleen, a visual artist with a master’s degree in Japanese Studies.