Gallery 3G: Takehisa Yumeji

The work of Takehisa Yumeji (1884-1934) is included in the shin-hanga sub-galleries due to his influence on the Shin Hanga movement. However, Yumeji belonged to the preceding Taisho Romanticism movement, an art movement which combined Western romanticism with Japanese styles.  He is best know for his portraits of slender melancholic women. Yumeji was also a poet and many of the prints in the collection were originally included as illustrations for his collections of poems.

The first set of prints are from Yumeji’s 1923 poetry book, Narrow Path in an Alley. “Narrow Path" alludes to the title of Matsuo Bashō's book Oku no Hosomichi which would be familiar to Japanese readers.

The prints in this section are from Yumeji’s 1919 book of poetry, Roji No Hosomichi (Narrow Alley).

The woodblock prints in this section are included in the book Samisen-Gusa (Shamisen Leaves) published by Sato Yoshikatsu (Shinchōsha, Tokyo) in 1915. The book includes multiple additional illustrations by the artist in line process, collotype and halftone. The book is inclosed in a cover shell with ties. The book itself has solid lilac colored covers and binding.

The images in this section were all originally attached to issues of The Ladies Graphic magazine which were published by Kokusai Joho Sha. The images were carved into woodblocks in the traditional manner. However, printing was accomplished with a mechanical press rather than the traditional rubbing of the back of the paper with a baren. This aided the efficient production of a large number of prints that would be required for a monthly magazine.

Addtional Prints