Sketch-tour books and prints of the early twentieth century

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Scott Johnson

Between 1905 and 1920 the 'sketch-tour' books began, flourished and waned as an art-book phenomenon. There are four primary reasons why these books are of importance.

First and foremost, they contain numerous illustrations of considerable aesthetic appeal produced with great technical facility.

Second, thesebooks helped to popularize the Western-style art movement in Japan; many of the great names in oil painting and watercolors of the 1920s and 1930s gained their first widespread notice here.

Third, the printing media available to publishers in the late Meiji and early Taishô periods expanded greatly; hand-printed woodcuts retained their appeal, but many 'sketch-tour' books also contain lithographs, photolithographs, zincographs, machine-printed woodcuts, collotypes, various photographic processes and the little-understood zerachin-ban(gelatin prints).

Fourth, the sketch-tour books led directly to the more widely known genre of shin-hanga landscape prints. Although the landscape print movement attracted new artists and publishers, many of thefigures active in the 'sketch-tour' book genre became pioneers in shin-hanga landscape prints. The popularity of these single-sheet prints ironically prompted the demise of the 'sketch-tour' books themselves.

Western style painting

By the early years of the 20th century, the transition from the Tokugawa Shogunate to a parliamentary system under Emperor Meiji had become firmly established. Japan had a Constitution, elections, electricity and motor cars. Military victories in China and later in Russia proved the strength and efficiency of the Japanese army and navy and the industries which supported them. Money was moving, at least among the upper echelons of Japanese society. Travel restrictions within Japan had long been lifted; hot-spring spas, scenic coastal villages and ski resorts were being serviced bya growing network of steam trains, electric trams and coastal ferries. For those with money and free time, the lure of travel was potent. Conversely, those who traveled widely were seen to be wealthy, and those who could travel at leisure and in style assumed the status of the privileged.

These social considerations were of importance in establishing the careers of the growing younger generation of Japanese artists trained in the Western tradition of oil paintings, watercolors and pencil sketches. The Nihonga movement, growing out of older Japanese traditions continued to receive patronage from established families, temples and other sources. The Western style artists, however, needed to establish a solid base of patronage, a base which had been unnecessary for earlier Japanese artists trained in Western techniques.

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