When the Tokugawa shogunate returned the rule of the country to the Emperor in 1868, Japan began a dynamic transformation. The new government vigorously pursued modernization, Westernization, and industrialization, and people sometimes found themselves torn between traditional values and progressive ideas.

Some images designed around the turn of the 20th century reflect a reluctance to accept Japan’s new modernity. This tendency was most obvious in works by artists involved in the shin-hanga movement that arose in the 1920s. These artists supported the traditional print production system, which was a collaboration among the artist, publisher, woodblock carvers, and printers. This notion was counter to the modern idea that art should be a form of self-expression, and that artists should carve and print their own images. Shin-hanga artists preferred traditional subjects and often borrowed motifs from 19th-century prints, although they were not completely immune to the influence of modern techniques. This mix of old and new was a distinguishing characteristic of shin-hanga prints.

This exhibition comprises eight pairs of prints with similar subjects, each pair consisting of a 19th-century print and a 20th-century one. Each comparison reveals both continuity and change.