Pictures of the Floating World: The Japanese Print Show

By artsculture, on Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Lightning by Nana Shiomi: Part of the exhibition exploring Japanese print at the Brook Gallery

The Brook Gallery has announced an exhibition of Japanese Prints to round off the year. The Japanese Print Show opens on Sunday, December 12 and runs to Sunday, January 9.

Beautifully encapsulated with the phrase ‘Ukiyo-e’, which means ‘pictures of the floating world,’ the 18th century school of Japanese printmaking was the forerunner to much that we recognise in printmaking today. The Brook looks at this significant influence on modern art, with a contemporary take on Japanese printmaking and woodcuts.

Originally produced purely in black and white, these early Eastern prints were akin to postcards, depicting popular and often theatrical images for home decoration. Lines were bold, shapes emphatic and the drama we celebrate in Japanese prints today set the standard in this unique art form.

Japanese prints evolved to include beautiful women, landscapes and eventually a combination of bold and subtle colours which led to an enthusiasm for ‘japonisme’ in Paris in the 1850s.

Kangetsu by Brian Williams: The Japense printing style has had a wide influence, and Brian Williams focuses on the use of woodblock and the Ukiyo-e printmaking

Angela Yarwood, owner of the Brook Gallery and admirer of Japanese printmaking, sees this influence in many of her printmakers and artists which exhibit at the Brook.

She told ArtsCulture: “Imagine how very different these works were in comparison to European art of the mid 19th century.

“To offer a schedule of exhibitions over the years that doesn’t include the art of Japanese printmaking, would be like showcasing the work of the French and omitting Toulouse-Lautrec. Nana Shiomi, whose work we are including in our exhibition The Japanese Print Show is one of the premier Japanese printmakers.

“This exhibition, which also includes work by Brian Williams, focuses on the use of woodblock and the Ukiyo-e printmaking methods and seeks to contrast other practices being used by printmakers working in Japan today and those strongly influenced by its techniques.”

Interchange of influences: Nana Shiomi, this is her Moon, ‘exemplifies the interchange of influences between all parts of the globe’, according to former head of Printmaking at London’s Royal College of Art, Professor Chris Orr

Nana’s work has been exhibited and sold around the world, with recent exhibitions including shows at the Mall Galleries, Christie’s and Bankside Gallery, London and The Tolman Collection, Shanghai; Malek National Library Museum, Tehran and the Kawagoe Gallery, Saitama Japan, among others.

Professor Chris Orr regular exhibitor and visitor to the Brook Gallery, and then head of Printmaking at London’s Royal College of Art, where Nana studied, says ‘she exemplifies the interchange of influences between all parts of the globe… Technically her sure touch never lets her, or her audience, down. It adds significantly to the tradition of Japanese printmaking but lies with great affection in the heart of our European heritage. I commend you to the work of Nana Shiomi’.

High praise indeed, and you can catch Pictures of the Floating World at the Brook Gallery, Budleigh Salterton from Sunday, December 12 to Sunday, January 9.