Ukiyo-e (浮世絵) is now a familiar art form worldwide, but contemporary ‘Hanga (版画; art prints)’ are still not a genre that attracts much attention in Japan.
One woman collects such art prints herself and organises exhibitions and other events in Scandinavian Denmark. Malene Wagner, who has worked for a British art publisher and in the auction industry, is currently based in Copenhagen, where she promotes the appeal of Japanese ukiyo-e art prints, and prints from the sousaku hanga (creative prints) and shin hanga (new prints) movements.
We spoke to her at the ‘Design Museum’ in Copenhagen, Denmark, about her work in analysing the cultural exchange between Japan and the West from the perspective of ‘art prints’.
Creative art prints is beautiful
——What kind of projects are you involved in?
Wagner As curator of Japanese art prints, Wagner has organised exhibitions in Denmark, lectured in courses at the Citizen’s College and contributed articles to the media about Japanese artists.
After graduating from university, I worked for the London art publisher Paul Holberton Publishing, while also working as a volunteer assistant in the Japanese department of the Victoria and Albert Museum* and at an auction house in Denmark. I am now an art dealer and art advisor on a freelance basis.
——I hear that you specialise in Japanese art prints in particular.
Wagner Yes. I am interested not only in Edo period art printmakers such as Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) and Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重), but also in the sousaku hanga (creative modern prints) movement of the 20th century, which began there.
——I’m sorry, I’m Japanese and I didn’t even know there was such a movement.
Wagner No, no (laughs). Sousaku hanga was an artistic movement in Japanese printmaking that became popular after World War II. While ukiyo-e prints were produced by four people – the artist, engraver, printer and publisher – many Japanese artists were inspired by the Western art movement and adopted the idea of the artist working alone. In sousaku hanga, the artist almost always works alone on an art print from start to finish.
Apart from this, there is a separate genre of ‘shin-hanga (新版画 *new art prints)’, which began under Watanabe Shozaburo (渡辺省三郎) around 1915. Around 1915, Watanabe Shozaburo commissioned painters to create new, but at the same time romantic, portraits of Japan. Yoshida Hiroshi (吉田博) and Kawase Hasui (川瀬巴水) are representative artists. Shin-hanga were also mostly commissioned by the publishers.
I decided to specialise in art prints partly because it is relatively easy to obtain reproductions of ukiyo-e and other masterpieces, but also because I found the dual structure interesting: many Japanese printmakers since the 20th century have been heavily influenced by Western art, and furthermore, that Western art has been influenced by Japanese prints. I found it interesting.
For example, the works of Ay-O(靉嘔) and others are very interesting. I actually met Ay-O in Tokyo, but I am also planning to interview surviving print artists who were active in the post-war period, and to compile them into a book in the near future for the benefit of future artists.
Kintsugi on a teacup given to me by my father
——Why were you interested in Japanese culture in the first place?
Wagner My parents were quite hippy people, both Danish, but they were interested in Buddhist Zen from a young age. My father was also a researcher on China, so from the age of two my parents took me on trips to Japan, Korea and China.
I still remember that when I was eight years old, my father gave me a tea bowl to use in the tea ceremony as a birthday present (laughs). I was very happy. It broke afterwards, but I still have it today after having it kintsugi (金継ぎ; gold-plated). In this way, Asian taste objects, especially Japanese objects, were always abundant in my house.
I then studied Japanese art history at the University of Copenhagen*, and when I went on to postgraduate studies, I also learnt more about Japanese art prints influenced by Western art. I felt that this felt very natural to me, not like an exotic art form. So I decided to learn more about it, and started my own collection.
Ukiyo-e, a kind of media
——What do you think is the attraction of art prints?
Wagner Ukiyo-e, for example was pop culture at the time. Everyone bought and displayed their favourite Kabuki (歌舞伎) actors and favourite paintings of beautiful women. The same is true of shunga (春画; traditional erotic art).
At the same time, in the West, royal collections were rarely open to the public. I think the interesting thing about the Japanese way of thinking about art is that everyone can enjoy it easily.
It is also interesting to note that all oil paintings are naturally one-offs, whereas ukiyo-e is intended to be ‘copied’. It’s a kind of medium.
——How are Japanese art prints received in Denmark?
Wagner Well, for example, many people in Denmark can recognise Katsushika Hokusai at first glance as a Japanese art print. However, it is not so easy to say that they understand how interesting Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) is.
In terms of contemporary art, Kusama Yayoi (草間彌生) is familiar to many people, but creative art prints and new art prints have received little attention.
Art prints seem to be a very old-fashioned art form, but I think there are still new areas of expression in art prints, and I want more people to know the appeal of art prints. That includes people in Japan. There aren’t many Japanese people who are familiar with contemporary art prints, are there?
——I don’t think there are, including myself.
Wagner So I would like to have an exhibition of contemporary Japanese art prints in a Japanese gallery one day. I would like to know what kind of reaction it would receive.
While we also want to make art prints widely known in Denmark, we also want to present them in a contemporary way, and a few years ago we collaborated with the Danish subsidiary of Uniqlo, which designed an Ukiyo-e T-shirt. We recently held another Ukiyo-e exhibition at the MUJI shop in Copenhagen.
Every time I do such a project or exhibition, I feel that Danish people are looking for ‘Japaneseness’ in Japanese art. They are always looking for classic ‘Japan’, like Hokusai or Hiroshige.
This in itself is a positive thing, but I would like people to realise that art prints are naturally evolving, and that even though they may not appear ‘Japanese’ on the surface, if you look closely you can see that they have very Japanese elements, and that is the charm of modern art prints. However, it is probably difficult to do so immediately.
There is little time in Danish schools to learn about non-Western art, and there are probably no teachers specialising in Japanese art history at Danish universities, so this is not an option.
Website with a curious name ‘Tiger Tanuki’
——You also transmit a variety of art on your own website called ‘Tiger Tanuki’. The name of the site is interesting.
Wagner I started in 2014. ‘Tiger’ is partly because I was born in the year of the tiger, but I think in the West the animal symbolises Asian lore and strength. On the contrary, the ‘Tanuki (raccoon)’ is spoken of in a comical image, and I felt that was very oriental, so I combined the words ‘tiger’ and ‘tanuki’ in my name. I wanted to transmit the fun that can be found in the fusion of the West and the East.
——What are your future activities?
Wagner After all, we would like to be able to help spread Japanese culture. For example, the Design Museum Denmark has one of the world’s largest collections of art prints among Scandinavian design museums, and has a huge collection of materials on Japan.
On the other hand, we don’t have a curator with knowledge about Japan, so we haven’t been able to showcase those collections well. I used to work here, so I know that we have a great collection, but we haven’t been able to make it widely known.
Denmark is famous, for example, for furniture design, and many furniture designers of the 1950s and 1960s were influenced by Japanese aesthetics. For example, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum has a collection on the famous Danish designer Finn Juhl, but the exhibition only mentions influences from Greek and British culture, but not from Japanese aesthetics. I think that is unfortunate.
I hope to link the two countries, which are connected in many ways, in many more ways.
【Malene Wagner】Curator, art director and founder of Tiger Tanuki: Japanese Art & Aesthetics. After completing an MA in Japanese art history, she worked in the publishing and auction industry and now writes, curates and art directs on Japanese art from a variety of perspectives. She specialises in Japanese art prints and the cultural exchange between Japan and the West in the 19th and 20th centuries.
This article is translated from https://intojapanwaraku.com/rock/art-rock/210035/
