A Modest Hope (Chiisai Kibo)

山口源作　「ちいさい希望」
木版画　昭和時代　

Yamaguchi Gen (1896-1976)

Yamaguchi Gen made his first prints while working as a servant in the household of Onchi Koshiro (1891- 1955), a leader of the pre-war sosaku hanga movement. He went on to became one of the founding members of the Ichimokukai, an influential printmaking group that began meeting monthly at Onchi s home. Of the artists in Onchi s circle, Yamaguchi was the most loyal to his mentor s preference for abstraction. Both made prints in small editions, prizing the creative possibilities that arise spontaneously during the printing process.

Each of the three prints shown here is a unique record of the artistic process, with flat shapes floating weightlessly against textured backgrounds divided by color or interrupted by roughly carved linear patterns.

Sosaku Hanga: The Creative Print Movement

Influenced by European wood engravings, sosaku hanga elevated printmaking to a medium for personal creative expression, on par with painting and sculpture. This view marks a rejection of the traditional Japanese approach to printmaking as a means of reproduction an inexpensive way of producing images for mass consumption. While the work of traditional print artists was confined to the preparation of an initial design, with carving and printing the province of specialized craftsmen, sosaku hanga artists were committed to every aspect of the printmaking process. Cutting directly into blocks of cherry wood with simple tools and then printing in small editions by hand, the sosaku hanga artists freely experimented with novel techniques and expressive effects, creating both figurative and abstract prints.

Founded in the early 1900s, the sosaku hanga movement initially struggled for recognition; but after the Second World War it flourished as a new market opened up among Western collectors. Like several of their peers, the two artists featured here both received prizes in prestigious international competitions.