Peter Ujlaki

The favoring of illustration over words found in Japanese popular culture is not at all new: The same intense energies expended in creating and consuming manga and anime today can be seen mirrored in the heyday of the ukiyo-e world of the Edo and Meiji eras when, in some years, over 3 million prints were produced by hand in Tokyo alone. During this talk, students will have the opportunity to pore over a selection of actual woodblock prints from the 19th century, not only familiarizing themselves with the spiritual antecedents of manga/anime, but also the origins of some of today's graphic conventions.

Since 1980, Peter Ujlaki has been an independent art dealer based in Kobe, Japan. He specializes in Japanese paintings, prints and ceramics, old and contemporary, selling to institutions and private individuals worldwide, also mounting exhibitions, including those for works of Japan-based professional painters, printmakers and ceramists, both Japanese and Western, organizing of tours to artist studios and pottery-making villages, lecturing on Japanese art, antiques and aesthetics, and writing scholarly and non-scholarly articles for Andon, Daruma, and Ceramics: Art and Perception. He has contributed over 70 articles on Japanese art and culture to international magazines, and approx. 50 pieces to newspapers.