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New Skin 新膚

Yearning Afterward

Japanese Color Woodblock Print 

New Skin 新膚

originally appearing in the magazine

Han geijutsu, Vol. 5

by Onchi Kōshirō, 1933 (orig. 1932)

Lyrique: The Truth Only Shines Over


IHL Cat. #2039

About This Print

Source: Guide to Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints: 1900-1975, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, p. 201-202; Modern Japanese Woodblock Prints - The Early Years, Helen Merritt, University of Hawaii Press, 1998, p. 265-267 and as footnoted.

This print was originally created for the dōjin (coterie magazine) Han geijutsu (Print Art), Volume 5 published in August 1932 in Tokyo by Shiro to Kurosha, the company of the artist Ryōji Chōmei (Kumata) (1899-1982).  The theme for Volume 5 was mountains and sea (山と海) and the cover and five of the prints from Volume 5 are shown below.


From four to five hundred copies of each volume of Han geijutsu were printed and each issue was priced at 50 sen.  The magazine was published from April 1932 until December 1936. The printing was done by placing woodblocks directly in commercial printing presses and one or more hand-printed works [such as this collection's print above] were included in each issue.

The print appearing in Han geijutsu was hand printed by the artist, carver and printer Hirakawa Seizō 平川清蔵 (1896-1964)) and carved by Onchi.1

This collection's print was re-printed in 1933 for Ryōji Kumata's compilation of prints from Han geijutsu, titled simply 版畫 (Hanga). (See image directly below.) If my reading of the colophon for this compilation is  correct, all the prints were re-printed for this volume from the original blocks created by the artists by the master printer Takahashi Kobo 高橋春正.2


Image from the Artist's Catalog Raisonne (Prints of Onchi Koshiro, Keishosha Ltd., 1975)
 
「新膚」 は今年8月 
(これは, 雑誌の分は平川清蔵が刷つた), 用紙は, 「江戸川」を用うること
"New Skin" In August of this year [1932]
(The part in the magazine [referencing the print] was printed by Hirakawa Seizō),
the paper used was "Edogawa".
[note: According to Oliver Statler "Onchi preferred paper was a finely textured, firm but absorbent, white paper called edogawa..."]3


Other Editions and Impressions

On the left is this collection's print, likely from the 1933 compilation of prints from the magazine Han geijutsu.
The two prints in the center are different impressions that appeared in the August 1932 issue of Hangeijutsu.
The print on the right is a reprinted edition from re-carved blocks produced by Kōichi Hirai in 1967.

1 Both Prints of Onchi Koshiro, Keishosha Ltd., 1975 and the website of Hanga-do in their Directory of Modern Japanese Print Artists credit the printing of "New Skin" to Hirakawa.
2 The colophon reads 木版手摺師 高橋春正. Takahashi Kobo is still in operation today in Tokyo, headed by Yukkiio Takahashi the sixth-generation owner.
3 Modern Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn, Oliver Statler, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1956, p. 28.

Print Details

 IHL Catalog #2039
 Title New Skin 
 Shin hada 新膚
 Series from the magazine Han geijutsu (Print Art), Volume 5 
 版芸術　第5号　8月号
 Artist 
 Onchi Kōshirō (1891-1955)
 Signature 
 not signed
 Seal no seal
 Date originally August 1932; this print likely April 1933
 Edition likely 2nd edition
 Publisher Shiro to Kurosha 白と黒社 [the company of Ryōji Chōmei (1899-1982]
 Printer Takahashi Kobo (originally Hirakawa Seizō 平川清蔵)
 Carver Onchi Kōshirō 
 Impression excellent
 Colors excellent
 Condition excellent 
 Genre sosaku hanga (creative print)
 Miscellaneous 
 Format 
 H x W Paper 9 1/8 x 6 3/8 in. (23.2 cm x 16.2 cm)
 H x W Image 8 5/8 x 5 3/4 in. (21.9 cm x 14.6 cm)
 Collections This Print Honolulu Museum of Art 16704 (likely the Hirai edition), British Museum 1988,0315,0.50 (the Hirai edition)
 Reference Literature Prints of Onchi Koshiro, Keishosha Ltd., 1975. (a limited edition of 170 copies), fig. 152.