Gifted to the Permanent Collection of the University of North Florida by Jerry and Joan Holland, this exhibition features contemporary Japanese prints and ceramics. The works were purchased, in most cases, directly from the artists while the Hollands were living in Japan in the 1980s.
The exhibition features the work of innovators in 20th century Japanese printing techniques. For example, artists like Toshi Yoshida and Miyashita Tokio revitalized the ukiyo-e, or pictures of the floating world, tradition of Japanese art which flourished in the 17th through 19th centuries.
As opposed to the traditional ukiyo-e collaborative system where the artist, carver, printer and publisher engaged in division of labor, some modern creative print artists, like Takahashi Rikio, distinguished themselves as artists creating art for art's sake.
Artist Maki Haku created heavily embossed prints by working designs in wet cement, including stylized Kanji, or Chinese characters, as design motifs.
The works of these and other contemporary Japanese printmakers are now an important and valued addition to the UNF Permanent Collection, thanks to the generosity of Jerry and Joan Holland.
