For the 'Far' East, to the 'North' East

The collecting passion of a County Durham man is set to take centre stage in Woolley and Wallis’ Japanese & Works of Art sale this week. The late Ian Wilson (d. 2024), carefully curated an exceptional collection of Japanese Works on Paper for over more than a decade, comprising exquisite examples of Japanese woodblock prints.

 Born and raised in the North East he lived most of his life in Craghead, near Stanley and while he began his career far from the art world, working as a business analyst in London’s oil industry, his sense of curiosity and diligence soon found a new outlet in art collecting.

While originally a collector of Art Deco works Ian soon became drawn to Japanese woodblock prints, admiring the specialised skills employed in creating them and the serene quality of the resulting works. Over ten years he amassed one of the most significant private collections of its kind in the North East, transforming the walls of his Craghead home into a rotating gallery of shin-hanga and sōsaku-hanga prints.

Shin-hanga prints were Japanese woodblock prints produced in the early to mid-20th century. They blended traditional ukiyo-e techniques with modern Western artistic influences. This movement reinvigorated the genre, by combining conventional printmaking themes, such as landscapes and female portraits, with new aesthetics, such as a vibrant use of light, shadow, colour and detailed decorative patterns. This method was a collaborative process between the artist, carver, printer and publisher.

The Sōsaku-hanga prints in Ian’s collection were also part of this new artistic movement, but these differed by advocating individual expression, which meant the artist worked alone throughout the process, from concept and design, through to print. These two different printing methods represent the two sides of modern Japan’s artistic legacy, which Ian came to treasure.

After retiring, he returned to his roots, volunteering as a guide at the North of England Open Air Museum at Beamish, often found in the Georgian farm area of Pockerley, or serving as one of the Home Guard re-enactors at Home Farm at Beamish Museum in County Durham. Here his enthusiasm for art and heritage intertwined and friends at Beamish remember him as kind, meticulous and endlessly enthusiastic individual, always delighting in sharing his detailed historical knowledge with visitors.

Among the highlights of his collection is Lot 933, a group of thirteen Japanese bijinga (portraits of beauties), one by Yamakawa Shūhō (1898–1944) entitled Fujo Yondai: Tasogare (Four Images of Women: Dusk), alongside works by Torii Kotondo, Goyō Hashiguchi and others, estimated at £300–£500.

Lot 934 features two lithographs by Keiichi Takazawa (1914–1984), Large Snowflakes and Hair, each numbered 15/470, estimated at £300–£500. Lot 943 offers six Japanese shin-hanga landscape prints, including Misty Day in Nikko by Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950), alongside works by Shōda Kōhō, Tsuchiya Kōitsu, and Takahashi Hiroaki / Shotei, estimated at £400–£600.

Lot 948 gathers seven scenic prints by leading 20th-century artists such as Kotozuka Eiichi, Asada Benji, Tomikichiro Tokuriki, Hideo Nishiyama and Omura Koyo, including the lyrical Cherry Blossoms at Omuro Pagoda (Spring) and Music by the Soba Wagon, estimated at £400–£600.

More recent works show Ian’s engagement with contemporary printmaking. Lot 951, Haru Narai (The North Wind in the Spring) by Koichi Sewai (b. 1946), captures a pink sunset sky over a Japanese horizon, estimated at £200–£300.

Lot 953 presents ten modern prints and silkscreens by artists including Nishida Tadashige, Hideaki Kato and Saburo Miyata, estimated at £300–£500. Lot 955 features a collection of thirteen bird and flower prints by Bakufu Ohno, Unichi Hiratsuka, and Seiji Sano, whose large work Haruake no Usuzumi (Spring Dawn Usuzumi), numbered and signed by the artist, is among the standouts, estimated at £200–£400.

Alexandra Aguilar, Japanese Art Specialist at Woolley and Wallis, said: “Ian Wilson collected with genuine passion and a keen interest in the history and techniques involved. His house in Craghead became a place of quiet contemplation and discovery. To present his entire collection, without reserve, is to celebrate a life shaped by dedication and to invite others to share in the joy that these prints brought him.”

The collection is being offered in Woolley and Wallis’ Japanese Works of Art auction on November 13, 2025 (lots 928–961).