Ukiyo-e Tales: Stories from the Floating World

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Scholten Japanese Art is pleased to participate in Asia Week 2016 with Ukiyo-e Tales: Stories from the Floating World, an exhibition focused on classic Japanese woodblock prints.

This exhibition will take us back to the golden age of ukiyo-e and will feature works by some of the most important artists of the late 18th and up to the mid-19th century. We will focus predominately on images of beauties and the layers of meaning and stories that are conveyed via subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) clues found in the compositions.

The exhibition will begin with works by Suzuki Harunobu (ca. 1724-70), who is largely credited with bringing together all of the elements that launched the production of nishiki-e (lit. brocade pictures), the full-color prints that we recognize today as ukiyo-e or images of the floating world.

The termukiyo (lit. 'floating world') references an older Buddhist concept regarding the impermanence of life, but during the prosperity of the Edo period in Japan the term began to be used to encompass and embolden everyday indulgences because of that impermanence. It was Harunobu's designs, primarily celebrating youth and beauty, that are believed to have first launched the production of full-color woodblock printing in Japan around 1765. 

• Contact:
• Katherine Martin
• admin@scholten-japanese-art.com