Images of the Floating World and the Modern era.

2 – 13 April 2025

Opening:  6pm, Wednesday 2, April 2025.

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 18^th and 19^th 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.

This heritage of print making experienced a renaissance both between the two World Wars and into the modern era. As a result, Japanese prints of all periods have been collected ever since Japan opened to the West in the mid-19^th Century and continues to resonate with collectors, artists and the viewing public today.

Join Gallery East director, David Forrest for a floor talk at 2pm on Saturday 5 April.