The Complete Prints 1980~2018 Sarah Brayer
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Sarah Brayer The Complete Prints 1980~2018 Sarah Brayer Sarah Brayer is an American artist based in Kyoto, Japan. This catalogue raisonné documents Sarah’s earliest print editions – from 1980, when she first arrived in Kyoto – to her current work. It is arranged with the most recent prints at the beginning, moving back in time to the earliest black and white etchings. Sarah is internationally known for her large-scale, poured washi paperworks and aquatint prints. Japan’s Ministry of Culture awarded her its Bunkacho Chokan Hyosho (Commissioner of Culture Award) in 2013 for interna- tional dissemination of Japanese culture through her unique creations in Echizen washi. Drawn to Japanese art through raku-style ceramics and the aquatints of Mary Cassatt, Sarah embarked on printmaking in London in 1978. Her first etchings were printed on ceramics. The following year she received her B.A. in Art (honors in printmaking) from Connecticut College and within months left on a backpacking journey to Japan. Entranced by Kyoto, Sarah began making black and white aquatints of her Kyoto environs. The plates were etched in her tiny apartment and printed at the studio of Yoshiko Fukuda (1930-82) who introduced her to the Kyoto Etching Group. In 1981 she purchased a second-hand etching press. Artists Brian Williams and Daniel Kelly invited her to paint together on location, and join in a group exhibition. Sarah had her first solo exhibition in Kyoto in 1983, quit her English teaching jobs, and devoted herself to art full-time. Her first show in NYC was in 1985 at Ronin Gallery. Piqued by an interest in transparent color blends, Sarah studied Japanese woodblock printing with Toshi Yo- shida (1911-96) in 1982-4. Master printer Kathy Caraccio guided her through the intricacies of color aquatint print- ing in 1984 when she returned for six-months to NYC. When an old kimono-weaving loft near the gate of Daitokuji temple in Kyoto became available for a studio, she set up shop and continues to print there today. Sarah first encountered poured-paperwork, a technique she would develop in Japan, during a visit to Dieu Donné Papermill in NYC in 1986. This painterly and somewhat unpredictable technique seemed a perfect blend of chance and design and led her to the ancient Japanese paper center of Imadate, Echizen where she began making large-scale paper images and editions, often embedding aquatint prints into handmade washi. She has continuously created works in Echizen since 1986, as the only western artist to do so. She returns to Dieu Donné periodically to create paper editions using linen, a western paper fiber. Painterly explorations in lithography were done at Hanga Kobo Press Ahead in Nara, Japan 1987-9. Many of her aquatint plates were etched at Crown Point Press summer workshops starting in 2000, where she found excitement in the unpredictable rosin and spit-bite techniques (painting directly with acid on a plate). She became the first foreign woman to be chosen as the cover artist for the 2007 CWAJ Contemporary Print Show in Tokyo. You are looking for that clear, inner essence of who you are; a place where the mind is still, Sarah began the Luminosity series in 2011 as a way to bring light directly into her art by using phosphorescent and self-consciousness dissolves. The moment the plate hits the acid, assumptions are pigments inside the paper. When the Print Club of New York selected her to create an edition for their membership in suspended and a transformation begins. 2017, Sarah produced Crescent Glow, a silkscreen on washi with a glowing paper moon. In 2012 Brayer spoke about the Luminosity series at TED in Tokyo. Sarah Brayer Sarah’s art is in the collections of the British Museum, the Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian, and the Achenbach Foundation of Graphic Arts, to name a few. Honored in Japan in 1992, she was the first artist ever to exhibit at Byodo-In, a World Heritage temple dating from the Heian Period (998). Residing in Kyoto, Sarah divides her working time between Kyoto, Echizen, and New York. Dedicated to Elizabeth and Sheldon Brayer ©2018 Sarah Brayer. All rights reserved. Book design and portfolio photography by John Wells. Sarah Brayer Studio sarahbrayer.com 2 3 Sea to Sky 2017 Aquatint on Somerset paper with hand coloring. Edition of 25. 13 x 59 cm (5 x 23.5 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer in Kyoto. Crescent Glow Detail as seen in the dark. LEFT: Sapphire Moon 2018 Aquatint and chine-collé on Vietnamese handmade paper with artist-made mulberry paper and phosphorescent pigment. Edition of 10. 51 x 37 cm (20 x 14.5 in) . Crescent Glow Printed by Sarah Brayer in Kyoto. 2017 Silkscreen and chine-collé on Japanese mulberry paper, artist-made mulberry paper (moon) and phosphorescent pigment. Edition of 200. 53 x 66 cm (21 x 26 in) . RIGHT: Sapphire Moon Printed by Sarah Brayer and Ken Asekura at Kataezome in Kyoto. Detail as seen in the dark. Print Club of New York 2017 Presentation Print 4 5 Japan Seaside 2015 Aquatint on Japanese mulberry paper with hand coloring. Edition of 12. 20 x 121 cm (8 x 48 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. Kyotango Matsushima 2014 Aquatint on Japanese mulberry paper. Edition of 30. 20 x 61 cm (8 x 24 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. Sea of Japan, Kyoto 2014 Aquatint on Japanese mulberry paper with hand coloring. Edition of 15. 98 x 84 cm (39 x 33 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. Collection: Yale University Art Gallery 6 7 Rainy Season Way 2014 Aquatint embedded in artist-made mulberry paper. Edition of 6. 28 x 33 cm (11 x 13 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. Spring Bath 2013 Aquatint embedded in artist-made mulberry paper. Edition of 22. 67 x 87 cm (27 x 35 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer in Kyoto. 8 9 Kibune Falls Kurama Falls 2012 2012 Aquatint embedded in artist-made mulberry paper with collage. Edition of 10. 22 x 22 cm (9 x 9 in). Aquatint embedded in artist-made mulberry paper with collage. Edition of 10. 22 x 22 cm (9 x 9 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer in Kyoto. Printed by Sarah Brayer in Kyoto. Sea of Clouds 2012 Aquatint embedded in artist-made mulberry paper. Edition of 35. 25 x 24 cm (10 x 9 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. 10 11 Moon Shadow Amaterasu 2010 2010 Aquatint embedded in kozo and mitsumata paperwork with hand coloring. Edition of 10. 71 x 93 cm (28 x 37 in). Aquatint on artist-made mulberry paper with washi chine-collé and hand coloring. Edition of 25. 67 x 90 cm (26 x 35 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto and Echizen. Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. 12 13 THIS PAGE: Afterglow 2010 Aquatint on artist-made indigo-dyed mulberry paper with washi chine-collé and phosphorescent pigment. Edition of 30. 60 x 90 cm (26 x 36 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. FACING PAGE: Afterglow Detail as seen in the dark. 14 15 Apollo 2010 Aquatint on artist-made mulberry paper with washi chine-collé and hand coloring. Edition of 15. 68 x 92 cm (27 x 36 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. Hint of Red 2009 Aquatint, chine-collé and collage on artist-made mulberry paper. Edition of 38. 82 x 65 cm (32 x 26 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto and Echizen. Collection: Cedar Rapids Museum of Art 16 17 Red Heart 2010 Plum Moon Aquatint and chine-collé on hand-made Laotian paper. Edition of 38. 75 x 50 cm (30 x 20 in). 2007 Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. Aquatint, washi chine-collé on indigo-dyed hemp paper. Edition of 10. 75 x 64 cm (29 x 25 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. 18 19 Hanabi 2009 Aquatint on Somerset paper with washi chine-collé and hand coloring. Edition of 30. 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. Scintillate 2009 Aquatint on Somerset paper with washi chine-collé and hand coloring. Radiance Edition of 30. 26 x 21 cm (10 x 8 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. 2009 Aquatint on Somerset paper with washi chine-collé and hand coloring. Edition of 30. 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. 20 21 Celestial Seas 2009 Aquatint on Somerset paper with washi chine-collé and hand coloring. Edition of 40. 40 x 56 cm (16 x 22 in). Cave of Winds Printed by Sarah Brayer in Kyoto. 2009 Aquatint on Somerset paper. Edition of 22. 61 x 33 cm (24 x 13 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. 22 23 Mikazuki 2007 Aquatint on indigo-dyed hand-made Japanese mulberry paper with washi chine-collé. Edition of 38. 62 x 92 cm (24 x 36 in). Night Sky Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto. 2009 Aquatint on indigo-dyed hand-made Japanese Collection: Memorial Art Gallery of the Univeristy of Rochester mulberry paper with washi chine-collé. Edition of 38. 92 x 62 cm (36 x 24 in). Printed by Sarah Brayer and Yuko Irie in Kyoto.