Japan: 'Steam'. Shin-hanga woodblock print by Torii Kotondo (1900-1976), 1929

Torii Kotondo is known to have made only 21 prints - all of them images of bijin or beautiful women. They belong to the finest works of art of the Shin Hanga movement.

Shin hanga ('new prints') was an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taisho and Showa periods, that revitalized traditional ukiyo-e art rooted in the Edo and Meiji periods (17th–19th century).

The movement flourished from around 1915 to 1942, though it resumed briefly from 1946 through the 1950s. Inspired by European Impressionism, the artists incorporated Western elements such as the effects of light and the expression of individual moods, but focused on strictly traditional themes of landscapes (fukeiga), famous places (meisho), beautiful women (bijinga), kabuki actors (yakusha-e), and birds and flowers (kachoga).

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Pictures From History