Sōsaku-hanga vs Ukiyo-e
創作版画 / 浮世絵
Both sit in Japanese Woodblock Prints, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with different intent, which is the fastest way to tell them apart.
Sōsaku-hanga
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A movement that rejected the division of labor among designer, carver and printer and declared that one person draws, carves and prints. It chose to leave the trace of the maker's hand rather than technical perfection, taking the opposite road from the shin-hanga of the same years.
Ukiyo-e
Fixes a passing moment of daily life or landscape into strong composition with contour, flat color and daring crops.
| Sōsaku-hanga | Ukiyo-e | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 1904–1960s | 17th–19th century |
| Family | Japanese Woodblock Prints | Japanese Woodblock Prints |
| Kind | Style | Style |
| Cues | Coarse lines that keep the marks of the knife / Self drawn, self carved, self printed / Tolerance for distortion and uneven inking / Subjects personal to the artist | Clear outlines / Flat color / Bold cropping / Overlapping space |
| Best used for | Making prints that keep the trace of the hand as a value · Showing making in the first person rather than by division of labor | Giving daily scenes a symbolic composition · Showing depth by overlap instead of realism |
| Type | Cut hand carved letters into the block as part of the image. | Brush letters or a disciplined mincho fitting the subject; no meaningless Japanese |
| Composition | Use the rectangle of the block itself as the frame. | Cut the foreground boldly; set a jump in scale against the distance |
| Material | Keep the grain of the wood and the cut marks, and do not erase uneven printing. | Keylines and few color blocks; use the paper as one of the colors |
| Caution | Roughness itself is not the goal. The substance is the choice of what you take on with your own hands. | Not a kit of 'Japanese-style' signs. Research the artist, carver, printer, period and subject. |