Being an island nation, Japan has always relied on water as a major form of transport and travel, with the importance of its natural waterways often depicted in art. This exhibition focuses on “the sound of water” — running rivers, lapping waves, waterfalls and ...
This exhibition showcases more than 250 Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo Period (1603-1868), depicting ghosts, goblins and other supernatural beings. The lurid subject matter, a graphic illustration of the shadowy spirit underworld, is as delightful as it is ghoulish.
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of French ukiyo-e artist Henri Riviere (1888-1902), the Sagawa Art Museum is showcasing the printmaker’s famous “Thirty-six Views of the Eiffel Tower” alongside its inspiration, Katsushika Hokusai’s “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.” Seeing the two series’ ...
Ghouls, monsters, specters, ghosts — all manner of the supernatural have long fascinated and frightened in all cultures, but the Japanese have historically enjoyed a particularly entertaining, and pictorial, relationship with the eerie and uncanny. Through a selection of around 250 yōkai (ghouls and ...
Ukiyo-e prints could be found in Europe from at least 1795 at the Cabinet des Estampes at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. It was not until the 1850s, however, when trade between Japan and Europe began to flourish, that the craze for things ...
Jacques Callot (1592-1635) is perhaps not a name many are familiar with. Overshadowed by the work of Albrecht Durer and Rembrandt van Rijn, he is sometimes overlooked. Yet Callot is one of the most important printmakers and pioneers of etching in western art history, ...
To celebrate its 25th anniversary, the Yokohama Museum of Art is holding an exhibition of around 220 works selected from its 1,600-strong collection of ukiyo-e (woodcut prints) Chosen to illustrate the art form’s history from the Edo Period (1603-1867) to present day, the exhibition ...
In celebration of its 40th anniversary, the Nara Prefectural Museum of Art is hosting a show of masterpieces by artists Shoen Uemura, Kenkichi Tomimoto, Ikko Tanaka and more. The exhibition reflects its theme of “The World of Beauty” through around 120 works that trace ...
Hokusai Katsushika (1760-1849), one of Japan’s best-known Edo Period ukiyo-e (woodblock print) artists, has garnered admiration from across the world for more than a century. His prints are still sought after by collectors and he was the only Japanese to be selected by Life ...
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of symbolist painter Edvard Munch’s birth, this exhibition showcases 34 of the artist’s prints, mostly early works focusing on life, death and love — themes that he became particularly known for. A Norwegian painter and printmaker, Munch’s works ...
The British Museum’s press officer, Claire Coveney, comes hurrying up to take me to the galleries of the museum’s latest hot-ticket show, “Shunga: Sex and pleasure in Japanese Art,” and I’m not surprised she looks run off her feet. Pre-opening interest in this new ...
The Edo Period (1603-1867) of Japan is well known for its economic growth and strong social order, but a lesser known fact is that people of this era also enjoyed comedy. Comedic ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) were particularly popular and they typically depicted anthropomorphic interpretations ...
