In conjunction with the exhibit
Japanese Prints During the Allied Occupation, 1945--1952: Ernst Hacker, Onchi Koshiro and the First Thursday Society
the British Museum has published a book and catalogue of the exhibit by Laerence Smith
this is the description of the book from the British Museum:
Japanese Prints During the Allied Occupation 19451952 (14766) http://www.britishmuseum.co.uk/
Lawrence Smith
2002, 276 x 219mm, 128pp Hardback
ISBN: 0 7141 1476 6
Illustrations: 40 colour, 75 black & white illustrations
In 1945 much of urban Japan lay in ruins, and the land was for the first time in history occupied by foreign powers. To many Japanese it seemed that everything had been lost, but in fact the nation was quickly to demonstrate its ability to recover. In the visual arts, the years between 1945 and 1952 became a period of steady progress and considerable achievement in painting, calligraphy, prints, ceramics and other crafts. This exhibition catalogue examines in detail how one school of printmakers, under the leadership of Onchi Koshir? (18891955), managed to survive the Pacific War and found themselves, as artists, among the spokesmen for a new search for the nation's heart in its aesthetic traditions. Prints and archives acquired by American graphic artist Ernst Hacker (191787) and recently given to The British Museum by his widow, form the basis of this study.
Lawrence Smith is a former Keeper of Japanese Antiquities in The British Museum and the author of several books on Japanese art.