Japanese Woodblocks in Malaga

 'Japon - Grabados y Objetos de Arte' caught my eye while I was seeing friends in Malaga. The exhibition at the Museo Carmen Thyssen in the city centre featured a small collection of fabulous late 18th century and early 19th century ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints by masters, such as Hokusai and Hiroshige. All the works came from the Museo de Bellas Artes in Bilbao and were originally collected by private collector Jose Palacio.

Carmen Thyseen Museum, Malaga

The exhibition space itself was stunning. And it was fantastic to see printmaking on show here. The photos below are not great quality as it was very hard to capture with the reflections from the lights, however these will at least remind me of a fantastic day and beautiful, delicate work.

Craftman's shop near Mount Fuji, by Hokusai

The Elegant Set of the Hunter, by Eizan

Fuchu, by Hiroshige

Komachi Beseeching the Rain, by Toyokuni

Ispired by Picasso in Malaga

Finally, after years of visiting Malaga, I got to the Picasso Museum this time. I'm really glad I did. The building alone is stunning - and much larger than I'd expected, housing the Collection and an exhibition running until 21 February 2016, called Picasso 'German Records'. Printmaking was well represented in both sections and the press used by Picasso in Paris, was also in pride of place on loan.

You aren't allowed to take pictures of the works themselves, so the images below are sadly of postcards or flyers, so the quality is not great. My favourite images were the large linocuts 'Portrait of a Young Girl, after Cranach the Younger'.

5 colours on plates 64 x 53.5cm, produced in 1958. There were also some great etchings, sugar lift aquatints and drypoint original prints. I found them inspiring in their challenge of technique as much as the powerful images themselves.

 It's a beautiful city. If you haven't been, perhaps it's time to plan it in...