Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji: The Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa (detail), By Katsushika Hokusai, Edo period, 19th century
Japanese Gallery (Honkan) Room 10
June 4, 2019 (Tue) - June 30, 2019 (Sun)
In the 17th century, painters started depicting the lives of commoners in a genre known as ukiyo-e. With the advent of new printing technology, these images began to be reproduced in high numbers, and ukiyo-e gradually spread to all layers of society. The addition of colorists to the publishers’ craftsmen also led to the birth of the color print in the mid-18th century. In connection with the National Museum of Western Art, which is holding the exhibition Upon the 60th Anniversary of the NMWA THE MATSUKATA COLLECTION; A One-Hundred-Year Odyssey, this museum is displaying ukiyo-e prints from the Matsukata Collection. This Collection consists of roughly 8000 prints collected by Japanese businessman Matsukata Kojiro (1866–1950). They make up the majority of the Museum’s ukiyo-e collection. In this chronological exhibition outlining developments in ukiyo-e, we have selected works from the 100 prints that were displayed at the museum of Matsukata’s alma mater, Rutgers University in New Jersey, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his graduation. This is the first part of a four-part exhibition.
Current exhibit includes:
Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji: The Great Wave Off the Coast of Kanagawa, By Katsushika Hokusai, Edo period, 19th century
Actor Nakamura Nakazo, from the Series Azuma Ogi, By Katsukawa Shunsho, Edo period, 18th century (Important Art Object)
One Hundred and Eight Heroes from the Chinese Tale, The Water Margin: Zhang Shun, alias Fish Swimming against Wavesa, By Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Edo period, 19th century
Umaya Riverbank in the Eastern Capital of Edo, By Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Edo period, 19th century