1950-1960
History
The 1950s were a period of reform and reconstruction. Already a few years after the war, on May 3rd 1947, a new constitution was proclaimed, which meant the start of a genuine constitutional party democracy. But with the merger of the Liberal and Democratic conservative parties in 1955, resulting in the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party), a virtual one-party state was the result. From 1948 to 1954 Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru had dominated Japanese politics, and it was his successor, Hatoyama Ichiro, who presided over this merger.
The challenges facing the government were huge. After the establishment if the MITI (the Ministry of International Trade and Industry) in 1949 it was decided to focus recovery on four industries: coal-mining, steel, ship-building and the chemical industry. The Korean war (sometimes referred to as “the gift from the gods”) helped economic recovery. In 1955 The US GNP (Gross National Product) was sixteen times that of Japan. Twenty years later, in 1974, it was only three times that of Japan, and Japan had become the second-largest economic power.
In the field of foreign politics Prime Minister Hatoyama restored political relations with the Soviet Union in October 1956 after lengthy negotiations. Along with those for the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty concluded under the Yoshida Cabinet in 1951, these negotiations and subsequent agreements with the Soviet Union can be regarded as one of the two most significant diplomatic events in Japan's postwar history.
In the same year, in December 1956, Japan was accepted into the United Nations. In 1960 Prime Minister Ikeda Hayato, a former minister of MITI, proclaimed the “Income Doubling Plan”, set to more than double Japan's gross national product in the course of the next decade and bring Japanese standards of living up to levels comparable to those found in many advanced Western countries. In fact these goals were achieved in only four years and the "Golden Sixties" (Ogon no Rokuju Nendai) were the result. Japan’s economic recovery can be compared with that of Germany after the war. The Wirtschaftswunder (economic miracle) also transformed Germany from a post-war wasteland into one of Europe’s leading industrial nations in more or less the same timespan.
Artistic developments
The excellent book Japanese Prints During the Allied Occupation 1945–1952 explains how William Hartnett — mentioned in the previous essay (1940–1950) — befriended Dr. Fujikake Shizuya (1881–1958), a renowned art historian and scholar of Ukiyo-e prints, who had also attended several meetings of the Ichimokukai (First Thursday Society). Hartnett persuaded him “to take up the cause of Onchi and his followers.”
When Dr. Fujikake later rewrote his pre-war book Japanese Wood-block Prints for the Japan Travel Bureau in 1949, he devoted a substantial section to Sôsaku Hanga artists. Looking through my copy, I was struck by the quality of the image selection he made — remarkably refined and representative of the movement.
Oliver Statler, also briefly mentioned in my previous essay, had an even greater impact. In his introduction to Statler’s Modern Japanese Prints: An Art Reborn (1956), James Michener wrote:
“Mr. Statler has personally collected what is probably the world’s finest collection of modern Japanese creative prints. He has personally arranged for the sale of hundreds of other prints to museums throughout the United States. He has taken dozens of American tourists to the workshops of Tokyo woodblock artists and has acted as intermediary in literally hundreds of sales. He has mailed Japanese prints on approval to many private citizens in the United States. And he has performed all these services without accepting a penny or a yen of commission. He is the best friend a group of living artists ever had.”
Then, as a bolt from the blue, Kiyoshi Saitô won first prize at the São Paulo Biennale in 1951 with the print Steady Gaze. This recognition coincided with Statler’s efforts to promote Sôsaku Hanga and with the lifting of travel restrictions for Japanese artists following the San Francisco Peace Treaty of that year.
Soon, more Sôsaku Hanga prints were sold abroad than in Japan. For the first time, many artists could live off their work and create pieces truer to their artistic vision. Onchi Kôshirô, for instance, turned entirely to abstract art — a form banned during the war.
1957 marked another milestone with the first Tokyo Print Biennale — Japan’s first major exhibition featuring both Japanese and foreign artists. By then, Tokyo was once again open to international visitors.
The 1950s brought two significant developments: Japanese print artists began travelling to the West, exhibiting and teaching abroad — some even settling there, such as Hiratsuka Un’ichi, who moved to Washington, D.C. in 1962. At the same time, many woodblock artists began using sheets of plywood, allowing for larger prints and editions to meet growing collector demand. These collectors also developed an interest in pre-war works, creating a broader market for both periods.
Meanwhile, as Sôsaku Hanga rose in prominence, Shin Hanga gradually faded. Yoshida Hiroshi died in 1950, Kawase Hasui in 1957 — and their best work had been produced long before. With no true successors to carry their legacy, the pre-war brilliance of Shin Hanga was gone forever.
