NOUET Noel was a French-born poet and painter. He came to Japan in 1926 as a French-language teacher and developed a deep affection for the streets of Tokyo. Based on the pen drawings he produced while strolling through the city, he began publishing shin-hanga prints around 1935 through the DOI.
The most distinctive feature of his work lies in the fusion of Western “pen line” drawing with Japanese woodblock printing techniques. Because his prints were based on finely detailed pen sketches, they possess a delicate and modern quality quite different from the lines of traditional ukiyo-e. NOUET deliberately restrained his use of color, nostalgically portraying contrasts of light and shadow and the exotic atmosphere of Tokyo as seen through Western eyes.
Many of his works depict scenes of Tokyo in the early Showa period. He remained in Japan during the Second World War and continued to record the appearance of the city before it was lost to wartime destruction. Although a foreign artist, the prints he created in close collaboration with Japanese craftsmen possess a distinctive graphic appeal within the shin-hanga movement and continue to captivate viewers today.
The most distinctive feature of his work lies in the fusion of Western “pen line” drawing with Japanese woodblock printing techniques. Because his prints were based on finely detailed pen sketches, they possess a delicate and modern quality quite different from the lines of traditional ukiyo-e. NOUET deliberately restrained his use of color, nostalgically portraying contrasts of light and shadow and the exotic atmosphere of Tokyo as seen through Western eyes.
Many of his works depict scenes of Tokyo in the early Showa period. He remained in Japan during the Second World War and continued to record the appearance of the city before it was lost to wartime destruction. Although a foreign artist, the prints he created in close collaboration with Japanese craftsmen possess a distinctive graphic appeal within the shin-hanga movement and continue to captivate viewers today.
