Sadayuki Takeda was born in Takayama City, Japan in 1906. This print falls within the sōsaku hanga or “creative print” movement, a modernist approach to printmaking that emerged in Japan in the early 20th century. Artists producing sōsaku hanga took the ancient technique of woodblock printmaking and repurposed it, placing emphasis on the artist’s individual creative expression. As the name suggests, these “creative prints” took on numerous styles, with influences ranging from traditional Japanese woodcuts to modernist styles such as cubism and expressionism. Most of all, the sōsaku hanga movement values individuality and experimentation.
Before the creative print movement, printmaking in Japan was dominated by the ukiyo-e (“floating world”) style, which began during the Edo period (1603-1868). These works celebrated recreation and leisure within the rising middle class and were generally produced in great numbers by a team of artists, with each step of the printing process delegated to a different person. The influence of the ukiyo-e style can be seen in this work both in the subject matter, a Japanese teahouse, and the style: areas of flat color interrupted by black lines. But where ukiyo-e prints usually sport very delicate linework and attention to detail, Takeda simplifies the forms of the architecture and landscape, recalling modernist aesthetics.
