In the 20th century, Japanese printmakers moved away from the collaborative tradition of woodblock printmaking to embrace sōsaku hanga 創作版画, or “creative prints,” in which artists became the sole creators of their works. The popular subjects of ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints, such as beauties, actors, seasonal landscapes and scenes of bustling urban life, were gradually replaced by works highlighting personal expression, aesthetic experimentation and technical innovation. Abstraction emerged as one of the dominant visual languages of this new movement.
Drawn from the gift of Jerry and Anne Godsey, this exhibition examines the rich complexity of Japanese abstract prints from the postwar period to the present. The 23 featured artists, including established male masters and pioneering female trailblazers, actively engaged with both domestic modernist movements and global art. Their practices contributed to a transnational language of abstraction that not only incorporated Euro-American conventions but remained deeply rooted in Japanese culture and aesthetics. Inspired by the beauty of nature, the spontaneity of calligraphy, the spirit of Zen and the poetry of everyday life, these artists expanded global abstraction with lyrical expression and bold reinventions of form and medium.
