Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928): Japanese Woodblock Prints of Western Plants and Flowers

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The great tradition of wood block prints was an enormous influence of Asian art on Western artists.  This beautiful series of woodblock botanical prints by Tanigami Konan (1879-1928) was to celebrate the seasons.

 

Godetia by Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928)

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 Artists and printers in Japan decided to pursue the Western market, reformulating their art in such a way that it would appeal to the Western eye and taste.  Heavily influenced by the Impressionist movement in France, they incorporated light and shade into their art along with Western concepts of perspective.

Primula, 1917 by Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928) 

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This new movement, named Shin Hanga or “new prints” was started by artists, but owes much of its success to the renowned publisher, Shozaburo Watanabe (1885-1962), a keen businessman who initially used Western artists living in Japan to understand the art that appealed to the Western eye.

 

Primula, 1917 by Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928)
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Shin Hanga was immediately successful under the shrewd tutelage of this astute businessman.  World War II brought a halt to this flourishing business for a while, but the American occupation renewed the interest in these beautiful prints and many were sent home by the American troops, and Shin Hanga was introduced to American homes nationwide.

 

Plumbago and Gallardia, 1917 

Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928)  

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The topics of the Shin Hanga movement are universally appealing: botanicals, landscapes, birds, animals and beautiful people.  These prints are particularly vivid and lush, with extravagant displays of all the very best flowers - tulips, lilies, daffodils, crocus, iris and all the numerous splendors of the botanical world.  It is definitely the abundant style of the West versus the more restrained and elegant style of the East.  In Japan, an arrangement of five flowers and a few leaves is considered very satisfactory, whereas this would certainly be viewed as a little sparse by most of us!    (Source of All Text)

  

Poinsettia by Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928) 

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Laelia Orchid by Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928)
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Cinneria by Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928)

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 Poppy, 1917 by Tanigami Konan (1879 - 1928)
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