In the words of Hanga Ten’s Hely Norton:

“My path to becoming an art dealer has certainly not been straight forward. I have always been interested in the arts and even as a teenager was fascinated by Japan, but my professional career was in financial analysis and management consulting. A total change in direction came first with the arrival of our daughters and then with the nomadic lifestyle that my husband’s career in a multinational company brought with it. I could not have been happier than when we moved to Japan in 1981.

Soon after our arrival I joined the College Women’s Association of Japan who organise the annual Print Show, the largest selling exhibition of contemporary Japanese prints. I had no prior knowledge of contemporary Japanese prints and had to learn fast: my job in the first two years was publicity. I had to write articles and interview artists, and this was a great opportunity to get to know them. The following two years I worked on the catalogue, and then I was curator of the show.

We left Japan in 1986, moving to Hong Kong and then Vienna, where I saw little opportunity to pursue my interest in Japanese prints. I did, however, religiously visit the Print Show every year and keep up with developments. When we moved back to London I felt the time had come to turn my interest into something more concrete and started the gallery in 1998. There are people who think I only did it to have an excuse to visit Japan more often!

It is very important for me to know “my” artists well and to follow their development over time. In fact, I have known most of them for over twenty years. Having said that, there are occasions when I spontaneously buy a print simply because it is exceptionally beautiful or interesting. This of course also goes for new talents where I hope a relationship will develop over time.

Contemporary Japanese prints are not well known in Europe (but I am working on it!). Since opening the gallery I have written several articles and given talks about contemporary Japanese prints. To introduce them to a wider audience, I also regularly exhibit at art fairs (see “News”).

In May 2010 I decided to cut back my time commitment and closed the gallery space in Fulham in London. This will give me the opportunity to focus on special projects and to keep this website up to date.