Masami Teraoka and Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints opens at the National Gallery

The National Gallery of Australia presents Masami Teraoka and Japanese Ukiyo‑e Prints – the first exhibition dedicated to Masami Teraoka’s art to be held in Australia.

Now open at the National Gallery in Kamberri/Canberra, this exhibition showcases works by iconic Japanese‑American artist Masami Teraoka. A significant contemporary artist, Teraoka is known for his unique fusion of cultures – merging traditional practice and historic art aesthetics with contemporary themes.

Born in Japan in 1936, Teraoka moved to Los Angeles in 1961. Teraoka’s immersion in American culture profoundly influenced him artistically and personally, he became an insightful observer and commentator of Japanese and American culture.

From the early 1970s Teraoka adopted the traditional visual vocabulary of 17th–19th century Japanese ukiyo‑e woodblock prints to comment on the world around him. These included reflections on contemporary issues such as globalisation, collisions between Asian and Western cultures, and the AIDS crisis. Inspired notably by kabuki theatre prints and the ukiyo‑e genres of bijin‑ga [beautiful women], yūrei‑zu [supernatural beings], and shunga [erotic prints], Teraoka created dramatic compositions rich in symbolism.

Forming part of the National Gallery’s Kenneth E. Tyler Collection exhibition series, this display will highlight Teraoka’s Hawaii Snorkel Series, published by Tyler Graphics in 1992–93. Related trial proofs and archival materials will showcase the hybrid techniques and innovative approaches Tyler employed to help Teraoka realise his vision.

Masami Teraoka and Japanese Ukiyo‑e Prints includes recent acquisitions of the artist’s work to the national collection. A highlight of the exhibition is Teraoka’s folding screen AIDS Series/Makiki Heights Disaster, 1988 which was acquired by the National Gallery in 2023. In 2024, the National Gallery purchased AIDS Series/Geisha in Bath, 2008 and McDonald's Hamburgers Invading Japan/Tattooed Woman and Geisha III, 2018. Sarah and Octopus/Seventh Heaven, 2001 was also generously gifted from the artist and the Catherine Clark Gallery. These three colour woodblock prints were executed in Japan with specialised artisans engaged for each component of the papermaking, carving, and printing, and are a testament to the ongoing craft of Japanese printmaking.

The National Gallery will present key examples of Teraoka’s ukiyo‑e style works alongside historic ukiyo‑e prints, delving into their visual, strategic and thematic connections. Leading ukiyo‑e artists featured include Utagawa Kunisada, Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Toyohara Kunichika and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.

Beatrice Thompson, National Gallery Associate Curator of Asian and Pacific Art: ‘Masami Teraoka is an important contemporary artist who regularly exhibits and whose work is included in major public and private collections internationally. Best known for his unique fusion of traditional Japanese ukiyo‑e aesthetics with contemporary themes and Western influences, Teraoka has been identified as a significant artist working within a transhistorical and transnational space.’

Teraoka featured in the National Gallery’s 1994 seminal exhibition Don’t Leave Me This Way: Art in the Age of AIDS. Three decades later, Masami Teraoka and Japanese Ukiyo‑e Prints includes ephemera relating to the exhibition and associated activists’ works.

Dr Nick Mitzevich, National Gallery Director: ‘This is the first time works by internationally acclaimed contemporary artist Masami Teraoka have been shown in a dedicated exhibition at an Australian institution. The exhibition is coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the National Gallery’s pioneering exhibition Don’t leave me this way: Art in the age of AIDS, which featured Teraoka’s art. The exhibition captured the relentless onslaught of HIV/AIDS on our society. Thirty years on, it is timely to present this exhibition of Teraoka’s work.’

Masami Teraoka and Japanese Ukiyo‑e Prints is free to visit and on display at the National Gallery in Kamberri/Canberra from 21 September 2024 to 6 July 2025.

Masami Teraoka and Japanese Ukiyo‑e Prints is a Kenneth E. Tyler Collection exhibition.

EVENT:
Art Talks: Kira Godoroja-Prieckaerts on Masami Teraoka and the influence of ukiyo-e-printmaking | Fri 18 Oct, 12pm

STORIES & IDEAS
Don’t Leave Me This Way | Read
Artists’ Artists: Masami Teraoka | Read

IMAGES
available here

MEDIA ENQUIRIES
Manuela Migneco
Communication Officer
E media@nga.gov.au
P +61 2 6240 6543

ABOUT MASAMI TERAOKA
Born in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan in 1936, Teraoka studied Aesthetics at the Kwansei Gakuin University, Kobe, Japan. He moved to Los Angeles in 1961 to further his artistic training where he completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Masters of Fine Arts at Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles. Moving to the US had a major impact on Teraoka both personally and artistically. He embraced a style that melded his Japanese artistic background with American Pop Art elements and themes. Incorporating the traditional vocabulary and narrative style of ukiyo‑e art to comment on contemporary subjects.​​ Teraoka has had over 70 solo exhibitions internationally and is represented in over 50 public collections worldwide. MORE

ABOUT THE KENNETH E TYLER COLLECTION
The Kenneth E. Tyler Collection at the National Gallery of Australia is the most comprehensive collection of prints produced by the master printmaker and publisher. It contains of over 7400 editioned prints, proofs, drawings, paper works, screens, multiples and illustrated books as well as an archive of photography, film, audio and workshop materials. This collection encompasses the work of North American artists over four decades and has been the source for an ongoing program of research, exhibitions and publications at the National Gallery. MORE

ABOUT DON’T LEAVE ME THIS WAY: ART IN THE AGE OF AIDS
Don’t Leave Me This Way: Art in the Age of AIDS opened at the National Gallery in November 1994. Curated by Dr Ted Gott, this groundbreaking exhibition exposed the gifted and passionate artistic response to the direct and searing impact of AIDS. Artists created work to empower and educate their audiences in the widest sense. It was an exhibition which truly raged against the dying of the light – singing of the defiant joy to be found in the tenderness of life lived in the face of darkness. It was an exhibition that defined courage for the National Gallery. MORE