Exhibition Checklist

East Meets West
Contemporary Japanese Prints from the UMUC Collection
March 1 - May 4, 2014
The Origins of the Modern Japanese Print
The history of the 20th-century Japanese print reaches back
to Japanese woodblock prints prominent in the 18th and
19th centuries, called ukiyo-e prints. These “pictures of a
floating world” were first developed in the 17th-century
from illustrations for novels and other publications. The
ukiyo-e prints were produced by a publisher who oversaw
a team of artists that transformed sketches into carvings on
blocks of wood. The end result as seen in the works in the
exhibition shows a timeless, indigenous spirit particular to
Japanese culture.
Japanese Prints in the 20th Century:
Shin-hanga or “new prints”
Ukiyo-e had never enjoyed much prestige in mainstream
Japanese art circles. However, these “pictures of a floating
world” grew very popular among Westerns collectors and
artists, including Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh.
Recognizing ukiyo-e’s growing appeal, one publisher in
particular, Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962), set out to
exploit this market by producing prints reminiscent of the
ukiyo-e style, but with a modern flavor. Watanabe coined
the term shin-hanga in 1915 to describe these prints.
Watanabe, among others produced countless updated
editions of traditional ukiyo-e themes of beautiful women,
flowers, nature studies, and lyrical landscapes. These
beautifully crafted works by Paul Jacoulet and others found
a ready clientele in the West.
About the UMUC Collection
Composed of gifts from faculty and friends, the University
of Maryland University College (UMUC) collection of
Japanese prints exemplifies a long-standing relationship
between East and West. In 1969, faculty of the UMUC
Tokyo campus began purchasing and donating Japanese
prints to the university as a way of building a collection to
commemorate beloved colleagues. Choice of the Japanese
print was due in great part to its traditional role as a
popular and accessible art form. It can also be attributed
to an appreciation of great craftsmanship and the art
form’s ability to capture the essence of a country where
faculty members had lived and worked and that they
had come to love and deeply appreciate. Over the past
33 years, the prints have made their way to the UMUC
Maryland headquarters, largely one by one, with the
exception of a very generous presentation of 20 Yoshitoshi
Mori pieces by the artist himself, and the remarkable
donation of the collection of Emory Trosper, longtime
professor at UMUC’s Tokyo campus. A selection of some
20 prints will be on view at the Academy Art Museum.
The Rise of the Sosaku-hanga
or “creative prints”
At the same time, a different approach to modern Japanese
printmaking was emerging. The impetus for sosakuhanga came from 20th-century Japanese artists trained in
Western techniques. The creators of sosaku-hanga set out
to reinvent traditional Japanese printmaking. Rejecting the
collaborative approach, early sosaku-hanga artists generally
insisted on making the prints themselves, reworking an
indigenous art form to express their highly personal artists
visions. Prominent artists in this tradition include Maki
Haku and Mori Yoshitoshi.
Ironically, few realized that much of what they admired
in their favorite Western artists – painters such as Van
Gogh and Claude Monet – had its origins in the ukiyo-e
tradition. As with shin-hanga, early sosaku-hanga artists
in Japan discovered that their greatest support came from
Western collectors. Later 20th and 21st-century Japanese
printmakers continue to find avid patrons in the West.
Maki Haku, Abstract, 1980
All prints are on loan from University of Maryland University College
Maki Haku (1924-2000)
Abstract, 1980
Woodblock, 16 ½” x 14 ½”
Dedicatory Gift
Norikane Hiroto (b. 1949)
Koinbori-4, 1986
Etching, 7 ¼” x 9 2/3”, 25/200
Gift of Dr. Patricia Wallace and Dr. Julian Jones
Akiyama Iwao (b. 1921)
Owl, 1977
Woodblock, 20” x 17”
Dedicatory Gift
Paul Jacoulet (1902-1960)
The Scale, Chinese, 1939
Woodblock, 15 ½” x 11 ¾”
Gift of Dr. Jeannette Fink
Miyamoto Shufu, Home Sweet Home
Sekino Jun’ichiro (1914-1988)
Kakegawa: Mountain-Top Kannon, 1960
Woodblock, 20” x 25”, #27 of
53 Stations of Tokaido Road
Dedicatory Gift
Miyamoto Shufu (b.1950)
Home Sweet Home, 1985
Woodblock, 13” x 17” 157/200
Gift of Dr. Paula Harbecke and Dr. Emory T. Trosper
Kawada Kan (1927-1999)
Interior Scene, l978
Stencil, 29” x 24”, 72/85
Gift of Mr. Emory T. Trosper
Hironaga Takehiko (b. 1935)
Landscape, 1979
Woodblock, 22” x 27”, 19/50
Gift of Dr. Don Harbecke and Mr. Emory T. Trosper
Shiokabeno Tsuzuku Furui
Kurashiki, 1977
Stencil Print, 19 7/8” x 31 ½”
34/60
Gift of Mr. Emory T. Trosper
Temple, 1979
Woodblock, 16 ¼” x 22”, 16/50
Gift of Mr. Emory T. Trosper
Clifton Karhu (b. 1927)
Himeji Castle in Winter, l979
Woodblock, 10” x 9 ¾”, 14/100
Gift of Mr. Emory T. Trosper
Mori Yoshitoshi (1898-1992)
Crazed Oshichi Climbing a Fire Tower, 1971
Morning in Gion, 1984
Woodblock, 22 ¾” x 22 ¾”, 97/100
Sugiura Kazutoshi, Chrysanthemums
Gift of Mr. Emory T. Trosper
Sugiura Kazutoshi (b. 1938)
Chrysanthemums, 1979
Silkscreen on Gold Leaf, 15 ¼” x 23 ¼”, 23/55
Gift of Dr. Patricia Wallace and Dr. Julian Jones
Iris 4, l979
Silkscreen on Gold Leaf, 16 ½ x 23 1/3”, 17/56
Gift of Dr. Patricia Wallace and Dr. Julian Jones
Saito Kiyoshi (1907-1997)
Study of Two Figures, n.d.
Woodblock, 13 x 15 inches, 16/100
Dedicatory Gift
Inagaki Nenjiro (l902-1963)
Japanese Man, l96l
Woodblock, 19 ½” x 18”, Limited edition, No. 56
Dedicatory Gift
Stencil Print, 27 ¼” x 23”
Gift of the Artist
Festival, l962
Pen and Ink on Paper, 40 ½” x 29 ½”
Gift of the Artist
Kitsune-Ken, 1981
Stencil Print, 24” x 34 ½”, 27/50
Gift of the Artist
Samurai on a Horse, 1980
Stencil Print, 24” x 19”
Gift of the Artist
Woman in the Morning, 1978
Stencil Print, 23 ½” x 16 ½”, 14/50
Gift of the Artist
106 South Street, Easton, MD 21601
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