Spring 2007
Japan: A Floating World in Print , 20 April - 17 June, galleries 1 & 2
East meets west this spring as Southampton City Art Gallery proudly presents a captivating display of Ukiyo-e prints from the Edo and Meiji print masters. Japan: A Floating World in Print encompasses scenes of beautiful courtesans and Geisha girls; the chance to escape into the pleasure districts and dramatic views of idyllic landscapes and vibrant seascapes.
Japan’s Edo period from 1600 -1867 was a peaceful era following civil war, controlled by a Shogun’s dynastic reign, and provided an ideal environment for the development of the art in a commercial form. While the Meiji period (1867 – 1912) was characterised by new influences as Japan opened up to the West. The Edo period is famous for Ukiyo-e prints, a people’s art depicting the transient floating world of ancient Tokyo in pictures.
Of the artists included in the exhibition, two masters stand out: Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), a forceful artist who synthesised new, dynamic landscapes like his famous Mount Fuji views. This includes the iconic and internationally-recognised print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, which helped secure Hokusai’s fame both within Japan and overseas. By contrast, Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858) produced subdued, poetic reflections of the natural world, combining well coordinated blocks of colour in designs which seem to draw the viewer into the scene.
Japan: A Floating World in Print is a touring exhibition organised by Maidstone Museum & Bentlif Art Gallery for Maidstone Borough Council. The prints were collected by Sir Walter Samuel, the son of Lord and Lady Bearsted, during his travels to Japan and donated to the Museum in 1923 through the National Art Collections Fund.
Image credit: Two Courtesans with a Scroll, Edo Period 1790 - 1804, by Kitagawa Tsukimaro. Copyright courtesy of Maidstone Museum and Bentlif Art Gallery.
Stephen Cooper: Off at a Tangent , 20 April - 17 June, galleries 0 & 2
Complimenting Japan: A Floating World in Print, this exhibition showcases Stephen Cooper's vibrantly-coloured paintings and installations, which are profoundly influenced by certain aspects of Japanese art, through historic print, architecture, landscape design and particular ideas of artifice. This has allowed the artist to pursue these ideas further in this current exhibition in the hope to create a dialogue between the elements of architecture; colour and painting through installation.
George Dannatt & John Wells: A Friendship and a Shared Outlook , 20 April - 17 June, gallery 7
Throughout some thirty-seven years of close and rewarding friendship with John Wells, George Dannatt shared many interests. There were frequent explorations via their car and foot, of the sea-bounded landscapes between Newlyn and St Ives. Inevitably, there was much discussion of painting and painting procedures.
Drawn from his own superb collection and curated by George Dannatt, this exhibition explores the connections with his own paintings and those of John Wells. It intends to give some idea of the search of two similarly motivated artists, and of the influence of Wells, the much earlier experienced seeker, upon Dannatt, six years his junior. Their quest was to achieve in paint, and occasionally in constructions, something of the infinity of visual experience derived from that special West Penwith area. The exhibition is accompanied with a new publication that is FREE to take away.
The Flowers of Tudor House , 20 April - 17 June, gallery 4
The paintings in this exhibition were commissioned by Southampton City Council as part of the Tudor House Museum Restoration Project. They are based on plants that are grown in the reconstructed Tudor Knot Garden. All of the artists are members of the Society of Floral Painters.
A programme to repair Tudor House, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Southampton City Council, English Heritage and the Friends of Southampton Museums, Archives and Galleries (FOSMAG), is now underway. We hope to see it re-opened, with exciting new displays and improved visitor facilities, in 2012, in time to celebrate its centenary.
Last updated: 21 April 2008
