THE BEAUTY AND THE ACTOR The Ronin Gallery is please to present an exhibition of woodblock prints of Beauties and Actors by the early 20th century masters Goyo, Shinsui, Kotondo, Shunsen and Toyonari. The early 20th century was characterized by a rebirth in the Japanese woodblock print movement. Since Perry opened Japan to the West ukiyo-e has been recognized as the finest example of woodblock printing that the art world has known. The Meiji period was distinguished by Japan’s move into westernization and the decline of the traditional arts. Japan’s social organization was completely altered and the manners and customs of the Edo period, which formed the background of ukiyo-e, disappeared. Surprisingly, it was under the stimulus of the West that ukiyo-e saw its revival in the Taisho and Showa eras. In their admiration of all that was western, Japanese artists discovered that the impressionists and post impressionists had been inspired by their own ukiyo-e masters. The world wide reputation that ukiyo-e attained paved the way for the early 20th century artists to create woodblock prints with the same dignity, perfection and genius as the masters of the Golden Age. The prints of this period have a unique and immediate appeal that rests on the classical virtues of delicacy, poise and restraint.
