Sōsaku-hanga: Creative Printmaking In Japan combines works from the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and the Joy and Timothy Light collection to explore the vision and innovations of sōsaku-hanga printmakers such as Kiyoshi Saito and Hiromitsu Takahashi, among others. The exhibition investigates the propulsion  of this artist-controlled, creative movement of modern-era Japanese printmaking. Previously, printmaking processes divided the labor among artisans having several different hands responsible for design, carving, printing, and promotion and sale of the work.

Sōsaku-hanga artists decided that printmakers should be in control of the entire process, and began overseeing the production of their images from beginning to end. As more influences trickled in from the West, sōsaku-hanga printmakers moved away from traditional Japanese aesthetics and subject matter, eventually influencing artists associated with the European Avant-Garde and American Abstract Expressionism.

Sōsaku-hanga will reveal how this unique art movement fused elements of East and West to create a lasting impact on modern printmaking processes and techniques.

This exhibition is supported by the Joy Light East Asian Art Acquisition and Exhibition Fund.