Toronto based collector, Hillel Krauss, is a collector of Sosaku Hanga and Modern Japanese woodblock prints. Featuring works from the early 1950’s through to 2006 this exclusive exhibition to IC includes a pair of father and son prints from Hide and Yuzaburo Kawanishi and also from husband and wife duo Hodaka and Chizuko Yoshida.

Here, Hillel Krauss shares a selection of individual prints from his collection and tells us how the art works featured give a sense of stillness to his life.

“I’ve been a dancer for most of my life. Dance was my first love and within the following story about this love the journey of my becoming a collector can be found. The first time I saw a dance floor as a seven year old child was when I wandered into a dance hall one morning on a family camping trip in Canada. It was the dance hall in the back of the soda fountain restaurant at our campground and it looked out over a large lake surrounded by woods. It was morning and the restaurant was quite busy while no one was in the dance hall in the large adjacent back space. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows lighting up a magnificent red and white oak wood floor. This first time I saw a dance floor coupled with an empty space was a magical feeling. I walked out onto the floor and there within the serene beauty of the empty space I felt myself wonderfully alone and in awe. It was the first time I had a feeling of Déjà vu. I felt I had come home standing and walking in that large quiet and empty open space.

Today, years later, these feelings of serenity coupled with space and design remain a central part of my experience. These contemplative feelings were what I recognized when I first saw Japanese woodblock prints. My discovery of the prints came through drinking Japanese green tea. I was searching online for traditional chawans for drinking the tea and I found a Haku Maki embossed image of a chawan similar to the one in my exhibition. From there I found my way to Gen Yamaguchi, Masaji Yoshida and other great Sosaku Hanga and Modern woodblock print artists. I find rest, quiet and a sense of wholeness when I view the prints in my collection. I experience these contemplative works of art as doorways into the stillness of moments. In this way collecting has become a truly rewarding daily meditational practice.”

I find rest, peacefulness and a sense of wholeness when I view the prints in my collection. I experience these contemplative works of art as doorways into the stillness of moments.

HILLEL KRAUSS