Lake Biwa

Koho Shoda was a Japanese artist associated with the shin-hanga (“New Prints”) art movement in Japan during the early 20th century. This movement was influenced by European Impressionism and its imagery focused on landscapes, women, and nature.

There is practically nothing known about Koho Shoda. But what we know is that in the 1920s, the publisher Hasegawa commissioned a small group of artists to create woodblock prints for a series entitled Hasegawa’s Night Scenes, of which there were a total of 21 prints by 6 artists. The print we present today is one of the most interesting and beautiful in the series. Viewing from the shore, we see two people on the boat that comes into frame from the bottom left, encroaching in a way on the quietness of the scene for the viewer.

Regarding Impressionism and Japanese art, these two genres influenced each other a lot. You can read more about it in our Mega-Impressionism Course in DailyArt Courses. 

P.S. Did you know that European and Japanese cultures heavily influenced each other mutually in the mid-19th and 20th centuries? In Europe, this movement is called Japonisme. Here's all you need to know about it!

P.P.S. Don't forget to check our DailyArt Calendars for 2022 here!! :)