ASIA
Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e from the V&A
On display until 15 March 2009
Rooms 90 and 88a
The Julie and Robert Breckman Gallery and the Edwin and Susan Davies Galleries
Admission free
Oniwakamaru subduing the Giant Carp (detail) by Totoya Hokkei. Museum no. E.3826:1&2-1916 (click image for larger version)
The V&A's collection of ukiyo-e is one of the largest and finest in the world, with over 25,000 prints, paintings, drawings and books.
It is not since 'The Floating World' exhibition of 1973 that a substantial number of ukiyo-e have been displayed at the Museum. The return of this exhibition, which has been touring in Japan since 2007, provides a perfect opportunity to rectify this.
Ukiyo-e means 'Pictures of the Floating World'. Images of everyday Japan, mass-produced for popular consumption in the Edo period (1615-1868), they represent one of the highpoints of Japanese cultural achievement.
Exploring the strengths of the V&A's unique collection, the display includes glorious full-colour prints, fan prints, illustrated poetry books, and artists' sketches and copyists' drawings.
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What are Ukiyo-e?
The art of ukiyo-e is most frequently associated with colour woodblock prints, popular in Japan from their development in 1765 until the closing decades of the Meiji period (1868-1912).
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The Production Process
The team involved in the production of ukiyo-e has famously been called the 'ukiyo-e quartet'. It comprised the publisher, who usually had overall control of the process, the designer, the block cutter and the printer.
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Popular Themes in Ukiyo-e Prints
Prints could be produced quite cheaply and in large numbers. While only the wealthy could afford paintings by the artists of the day, ukiyo-e prints were enjoyed by a much wider audience. The subjects depicted in these prints reflect the interests and aspirations of the people who bought them.
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Fan Prints
Fans are still a common sight in the heat of the Japanese summer. In the Edo period (1615-1868), they provided a popular format for print designers' ingenuity and imagination.
Publication
Hiroshige Fan Prints by Rupert Faulkner
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), leading artist of the popular Ukiyo-e school, created many of the most familiar images of pre-modern Japan. Considerably more rare are his designs for fan prints or uchiwa-e, and in Hiroshige the uchiwa-e of the V&A collection are published in their entirety for the first time. It is the largest known group of its kind in the world.
Available now from the V&A Online Shop
Masterpieces of Ukiyo-e from the V&A
is part of Japan-UK 150