Haruyo Morita

Haruyo Morita (born 1945, Kita-Katsushika District, Saitama Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese-born printmaker resident in London since 1977 whose serigraph editions reframe classical Japanese ukiyo-e iconography — Heian-period twelve-layer kimono (jūnihitoe), Edo-period courtesans, Meiji-era beauties — through her training as a kimono painter and through the contemporary serigraph medium. Her most-cited print, the 1988 'Twelve-Layer Kimono,' is held in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' Asian permanent collection.

Morita's artistic talents were evident from childhood. She entered her first regional art competition in 1960, at age fifteen, with her work accepted, and the following two years she won prizes at her prefecture art exhibition (1962) and the Dai-cho ten exhibition. She trained in the traditional craft of kimono design and painting, working as a kimono painter until 1972 — a foundation that would later directly inform her print iconography and her sustained engagement with the visual vocabulary of traditional Japanese costume.

In 1977 Morita relocated to London, where she has lived and worked since. The London move marked her transition from kimono painting to fine-art print and her engagement with the international art market. She has held exhibitions across multiple continents — London, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York, Saudi Arabia, Tokyo, Yokohama — building a sustained collector base for her serigraph editions.

Her signature 1988 work 'Twelve-Layer Kimono' is a Shōwa-period serigraph with painted designs (ink, color, and gold on paper). The print depicts a Heian-period female figure in the formal jūnihitoe (twelve-layered) court robe associated with the Heian-period imperial court ladies whose names — Murasaki Shikibu, Sei Shōnagon — are central to Japanese literary history. The work was issued in an edition of 350 prints, signed and numbered by the artist, and was added to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' permanent Asian holdings as a private-collection gift in 2017 under the curatorial direction of the museum's Asian expert Li Jian.

Morita's broader output includes additional kimono and bijinga (beautiful women) serigraphs — 'Fuyo and Tuyukusa,' 'Matsuyama,' 'Natsu N Yo' (1980s) — and a sustained body of decorative kimono-figure work that has been reproduced as Giclée prints, jigsaw puzzles, calendars, and posters for the international decorative-art market. Her training under Japanese master Husuki and her formal training as a kimono painter underpin the technical rigour of the original serigraph editions.

Classification as a contemporary Japanese printmaker requires noting the distinction within her own catalog. Her primary output of original serigraphs — including 'Twelve-Layer Kimono' and the 1980s kimono series — qualifies under the project's working definition of independent print editions. The later Giclée prints and decorative reproductions are derivative and do not count as original prints. The original serigraph editions are circulated through Artsy, MutualArt, 1stDibs, and Artisan Gallery (UK), with the VMFA holding being the principal museum credential.