Independent Collectors

Sosaku Hanga & Japanese Woodblock Prints

This exclusive exhibition to IC includes a pair of father and son prints from Hide and Yuzaburo Kawanishi.

YUKI REI, End of Summer, 1972
YUKI REI, End of Summer, 1972

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.”

HODAKA YOSHIDA, Green/Blue Walls Mexico, 1982
HODAKA YOSHIDA, Green/Blue Walls Mexico, 1982
HODAKA YOSHIDA, Tea House, 1956
HODAKA YOSHIDA, Tea House, 1956
HODAKA YOSHIDA, Door with Colored Inserts, 1982
HODAKA YOSHIDA, Door with Colored Inserts, 1982
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA, Autumn, 1955
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA, Autumn, 1955
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA, Sounds in the Night, 1953
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA, Sounds in the Night, 1953
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA, Butterfly A, 1953
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA, Butterfly A, 1953
OKIIE HASHIMOTO, Stone Garden and Temple, 1963
OKIIE HASHIMOTO, Stone Garden and Temple, 1963
GEN YAMAGUCHI, The Psalm of Life, 1969 GEN YAMAGUCHI, The Psalm of Life, 1969
GEN YAMAGUCHI, The Psalm of Life, 1969 GEN YAMAGUCHI, The Psalm of Life, 1969
HODAKA YOSHIDA, Stone Lantern, 1952
HODAKA YOSHIDA, Stone Lantern, 1952

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

KAZUYUKI OHTSU, Stone Garden Ryuan-ji Temple Kyoto, 2006
KAZUYUKI OHTSU, Stone Garden Ryuan-ji Temple Kyoto, 2006
YUZABURO KAWANISHI, Hirao Heights, undated c. 1960’s-1970’s
YUZABURO KAWANISHI, Hirao Heights, undated c. 1960’s-1970’s
MASAJI YOSHIDA, Direction in Space No. 45, 1964
MASAJI YOSHIDA, Direction in Space No. 45, 1964
HAKU MAKI, Collection 876 Chawan
HAKU MAKI, Collection 876 Chawan
GEN YAMAGUCHI, Efficacy, 1959
GEN YAMAGUCHI, Efficacy, 1959
GEN YAMAGUCHI, Murmur, 1962
GEN YAMAGUCHI, Murmur, 1962
GEN YAMAGUCHI, Advent of Spring, 1967
GEN YAMAGUCHI, Advent of Spring, 1967
MASAJI YOSHIDA, Moss No. 1, 1956
MASAJI YOSHIDA, Moss No. 1, 1956
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA, Windows, 1954
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA, Windows, 1954
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA , March, 1956
CHIZUKO YOSHIDA , March, 1956