Prints published by Watanabe Shozaburo: Kawase Hasui

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K

1924-30	1927-32	1929-42	1931-41	1932-42	1934-41	1942-45	gift seal	1918-24 post 1945	posthumous	printed since 1989

Watanabe Shozaburo is the Tokyo publisher who was the catalyst for the shin hanga (New Print) movement. He worked with a huge number of artists, but is perhaps best known for publishing the works of Kawase Hasui and Ito Shinsui. He also worked with Western artists like Charles Bartlett and Elizabeth Keith. Watanabe started out using Seal I, the round 6 mm seal, to mark his prints. This seal is found just inside a lower corner of the picture. All pre-earthquake (1924 and earlier) prints are marked with this seal, although a few may not bear any seal. These prints are extremely rare and valuable, since the printing blocks were destroyed during the earthquake and thus, were never reprinted. In addition, many people consider Hasui's pre-earthquake designs to be the peak of his career, adding to their value. After 1924, it became necessary to employ a more lengthy copyright seal, since many of Watanabe's prints were being blatantly copied by other publishers. Seals A - G are examples of this copyright. This type of seal would be found in the lower margin of a print, usually on the right side. Generally, if a print bears a seal that roughly corresponds to it's first printing date, it is considered an original or early edition print. For example, if a print was first printed in 1932 and bears Seal C, it is considered an early edition. After World War II ended in 1945, many earlier prints were reprinted. It was no longer necessary to employ a lengthy copyright seal, and Watanabe reverted to the 6 mm seal, Seal I. These reprints, although not nearly as valuable as early editions, are usually high quality prints, and quite collectable. Any original prints designed and carved after 1945 are also marked with Seal I. Seal J was used only on posthumous prints (1957 being the year of Hasui's death). Like Seal I, it is found in a lower corner of the picture. Posthumous prints are usually of lower quality than those printed during an artist's lifetime, and are considered much less valuable. It should be noted that Seal H, the so-called "gift seal", was used by Watanabe for private publications, gift prints, artist proofs, and for prints of less than excellent quality. Prints with this seal are rare, but this alone should not be taken as a sign of value. For these prints, it is particularly important to examine the impression and print quality when determining value. Seal K, usually called the Heisei seal, is found in the margin of prints made during the Heisei period (the reign of Emperor Akihito beginning in 1989 up to the present day). It reads "Watanabe" in hiragana script. The Watanabe publishing company continues to reprint some earlier designs by Kawase Hasui, Shiro Kasamatsu, and Ohara Shoson. The value of these Heisei-era reprints is substantially less than the original early edition prints. Some of this information has been excerpted from the book, Kawase Hasui and His Contemporaries: The Shin Hanga Movement in Landscape Art, by Irwin Pachter (1986, Everson Museum of Art).


Watanabe Shozaburo