One Hundred Famous Places of Edo: Komagatado Temple and Azumabashi Bridge, By Utagawa Hiroshige, Edo period, dated 1857
Japanese Gallery (Honkan) Room 10
June 5, 2018 (Tue) - July 1, 2018 (Sun)
The artistic genre of ukiyo-e originated and flourished in the Edo period (1603–1868), focusing its attention on the common people and their leisure activities and interests. Early ukiyo-e was all painted by hand. Later, ukiyo-e prints began to be mass-produced using woodblocks, while subsequent advances in woodblock carving and printing led to the creation of multicolor prints called nishiki-e, or “brocade pictures,” so called because of their vibrant combinations of pigments. The current exhibition includes benizuri-e, which are woodblock prints with soft coloring that appeared before nishiki-e. It also features nishiki-e prints and hand-painted ukiyo-e that draw on the seasonal themes of early summer, such as irises, sudden showers, and the Sannou festival.
Current exhibit includes:
Allusion to the Grasscutter Sanro, By Ishikawa Toyonobu, Edo period, 18th century
One Hundred Famous Places of Edo: Komagatado Temple and Azumabashi Bridge, By Utagawa Hiroshige, Edo period, dated 1857
Geisha with a Shamisen, By Kitagawa Hidemaru, Edo period, 19th century