When I started at the gallery over 40 years ago, one of the things that attracted me to Japanese art was the beauty of the handmade papers in many of the works.
Each artist’s way of using high-quality kozo, gampi fiber, and handmade papers from Nepal and other countries was quite unique compared to the art of the West.
Initially Mitzie Verne, my mom, helped to introduce the works of the living national treasures Keisuke Serizawa, the master of stencil dying, and the handmade papers of Eishiro Abe in the 1950s and 60s.
The prints from the Edo period (1603-1868), shin-hanga movement (1910s-1960s) and the sosaku-hanga movement (1910s-1950s) printed on handmade mulberry would follow.
I would then meet a group of Western artists using washi paper in ways that never had been used in previous Japanese printmaking movements.
Daniel Kelly incorporated all kinds of handmade papers, antique woodblock-printed book pages, etc. from many different countries including Nepal in his woodblock prints, lithographs, and paintings.
Yuko Kimura, who presently has approximately 15 museum shows in a traveling exhibition called Washi Transformed, takes the beauty of handmade paper one step further in her one-of-a-kind handmade paper collages and prints. Yoshio Ikezaki’s handmade paperworks are also in this museum show.
But the one person who really represents what this exhibition is all about is Sarah Brayer, an American artist who has lived in Japan over forty years. She is the only westerner who has worked consistently in Echizen since 1986. Her works are in numerous collections including the Smithsonian Institution and the British Museum to name a few. Joann Moser, Senior Curator emerita of the Smithsonian recently wrote, “Her fertile imagination and consummate craftsmanship distinguish her as one of the leading artists of her generation”.
With that, I welcome you to The Beauty of Washi and the 69th year of the Verne Collection.
Thank you,
Michael Verne
If you are interested in selling or consigning your Japanese prints, paintings, or drawings, please email us at vernecollection@gmail.com or call us at +1-216-231-8866.
