Ad Blankestijn: Woman Combing Her Hair by Goyo (1920)

In this print by Hashiguchi Goyo, a young woman in a dianthus-patterned yukata, looking refreshed after a bath, carefully combs her hair with a boxwood comb. Her long black hair flows beautifully, as if there were a life in each strand. Her slanting neck, nape, and shoulders exude a sense of elegance. The contrast between the shiny black hair and the white skin peeking out of the yukata is beautiful. A vermilion obi protruding slightly from the yukata adds a splash of color.

[Woman Combing Her Hair by Hashiguchi Goyo]

What are we seeing?

The Japanese color woodblock print had reached artistic heights during the Edo period (1603-1868) in the hands of artists like Hiroshige, Harunobu and Hokusai, but after the middle of the 19th century the quality of this art form generally declined. In the early decades of the 20th century, however, a new generation of Japanese artists revived the color woodblock print. This was called the Shin Hanga ("new print") movement.

A woman dressing or grooming herself after a bath was a popular subject for these modern artists. The theme provided a link to the erotic overtones of Edo courtesan prints. Borrowing from Western artistic practices, Hashiguchi Goyo and other Shin Hanga artists as Kaburaki Kiyokata produced "pictures of beautiful women" (bijinga) by sketching models from life. For the above print, Goyo used the features of his model, Kodaira Tomi, but in a simplified, idealized form.

[Woman after bathing by Hashiguchi Goyo (1915)]

Note how the woman's hair in this ukiyo-e by Hashiguchi Goyo shines beautifully against the background of the mica print. The silver background, which looks pale gray at first glance, actually contains what looks like glitter. This is done with a technique traditionally used in Japanese woodblock prints called kirizuri, where mica powder is rubbed in. The areas where mica is used have a beautiful shine that adds to the appeal of the print. Also, by not drawing anything around the woman and using a monochrome background, the beauty of her black hair stands out. With elegant lines and clean colors reminiscent of Art Nouveau, Goyo expresses the sensuality and physical beauty of women in a very elegant way.

Goyo is said to have liked the lines from the neck to the shoulders as portrayed by Rossetti in "Lady Lilith". Likewise, Rosetti's painting is focused on the long hair of his model. However, the woman in Goyo's print is not a "femme fatale" as in Rossetti's painting, but rather an innocent, gentle woman who knows no hardship. This is Goyo's representative work in the bijinga genre - Goyo was not for nothing called "Utamaro of the Taisho era." Today works by Goyo are among the most highly prized of all Shin Hanga prints.

[Lady Lilith by Rosetti (1873)]

Shin Hanga

Shin Hanga is an updated continuation of traditional ukiyo-e. As Japan opened up to the world in the second half of the 19th century, it gained access to new Western technologies such as photography and lithography. The traditional Japanese master-apprentice system came under pressure from Western ideas about art education. The traditional ukiyo-e woodblock prints lost much of their market share by the end of the 19th century. The Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the 20th century caused a final revival, but after that the market for traditional ukiyo-e was mainly limited to tourists.

Two movements emerged: the above mentioned Shin Hanga ("new prints") and Sosaku Hanga ("creative prints"). The Shin Hanga movement continued to work in the traditional way, where a print was created through a collaboration between a publisher, an artist, a woodblock printmaker and a printer. The sosaku hanga movement used the same technique, but the artist did everything himself from beginning to end. However, the line was not always 100% clear. For example, some shin hanga artists tried to limit the influence of their publisher and sosaku hanga artists had parts of the process done by students. The more conservative shin hanga movement adhered to traditional Japanese themes, in contrast to the sosaku hanga movement, which was more western-oriented.

During World War II the production of prints declined and after a brief revival after the war shin hanga lost its inspiration and importance.

Since the makers of ukiyo-e were mainly printmakers, black lines played an important role in their work. In shin hanga, color and texture were especially important. Its makers were almost all painters who tried to imitate paintings with their prints. This became easier with the new heavier papers of the 20th century that could absorb more ink.

[Woman Applying Makeup (white cream) by Goyo]

Unlike ukiyo-e prints, the new prints were no longer a mass product but a luxury item. Some artists continued to publish postcards and calendars in addition to the artistic prints, but all the other printed matter previously offered by ukiyo-e publishers was now produced using modern technology. The new prints were usually larger than the usual oban format of 38 x 26 cm. Very few polyptychs were made.

Erotic (shunga), heroic and historical subjects used in ukiyo-e disappeared, but unlike sosaku hanga, other traditional subjects remained common in shin hanga, such as landscape prints (fukeiga), prints of beautiful women (bijinga), pictures of kabuki actors (yakusha-e) and pictures of flowers and birds (kachoga).

[Woman Applying Color to Her Lips by Goyo]

Hashiguchi Goyo

Painter and printmaker Hashiguchi Goyo (1880-1921), who was part of the Shin Hanga movement, was born in Kagoshima City. He came from a family of doctors. His father was a samurai and amateur painter. Goyo learned to paint early, probably in both the Shijo and Kano styles. In 1899, Goyo traveled to Tokyo and apprenticed with nihonga ('Japanese style painter') painter Hashimoto Gaho. In 1901, he began learning the yoga ('Western style') style at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. He graduated there in 1905. His artist name 'Goyo' is derived from the name of his beloved tree, a three-hundred-year-old goyomatsu pine tree that stood in his father's garden.

Goyo began making lithographs and woodcuts sometime in the mid-1910s. He illustrated, among others, the novels of Natsume Soseki. In the latter half of his life he turned to woodblock prints, leaving behind excellent works. Goyo made use of carefully selected skilled engravers and printers and the output is always of high quality.