Floating World

Sally Frerichs Piller, artist

1955–2015

Floating World, 1991

Where object was made: Lawrence, Kansas, United States

Material/technique: laid paper; color woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 610 x 615 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 643 x 770 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 24 x 24 3/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 25 5/16 x 30 5/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 30 x 36 in

Credit line: Gift of the artist

Accession number: 1999.0297

Not on display

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Label texts

Exhibition Label:
"Inspired by Japan," Mar-2003, Cori Sherman
Lawrence artist Sally Piller uses some of the traditional Japanese techniques of printmaking in this tribute to ukiyoe, or “pictures of the floating world.” Her print is composed in a diptych format commonly used for Japanese prints, but it is printed on a single large sheet rather than as two separate impressions on smaller papers. Piller’s colors are also not the translucent, water-based inks generally seen in antique Japanese woodcuts, but bold, glittering, oil-based pigments that shine like polished lacquer. The subject matter of origami cranes, symbols of long life and granted wishes, in a plethora of paper patterns is reminiscent of a bevy of Edo-era pleasure quarter courtesans in their dazzling array of textile layers.