Images of the Floating World and from the Modern era
OPENING NIGHT Tuesday 4 November 6pm to 8pm
The long and rich heritage of print making in Japan is well suited to the Japanese temperament which prizes excellence, precise craftsmanship, respect for materials, artistic sensitivity and an eye for composition, balance and colour.
Japanese woodblock prints of the 18th and 19th Centuries record an exotic, vibrant, colourful and highly sophisticated society in a form which constitutes a significant element in the history of world graphic art. The imagery takes the viewer into a world of Kabuki plays and actors, courtesans and beautiful women, heroes of legend, historical battles, the Japanese landscape, and erotica.
Japanese Shunga (Spring Pictures) are now recognised as an uninhibited celebration of sexual pleasure. and one of the greatest evocations of sensual pleasure in world art. The exhibition includes pictures of the women and men of the “green houses” and ten images of this uncensored world of pleasure from the 18th and 19th Centuries.
This heritage of print making experienced a renaissance both between the two World Wars and into the modern era with artists designing, cutting and marketing their own works using every available printing technique.. As a result, Japanese prints of all periods have been collected ever since Japan opened to the West in the mid-19th Century and continues to resonate with collectors, artists and the viewing public today.
