This April, for the first time in nearly twenty-four years, the Brooklyn Museum will display one of its greatest treasures to the public: the complete set of 118 ukiyo-e woodblock prints from Utagawa Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views of Edo. The prints are collectively one of the most important works of Japanese art history. In order to protect the prints, which were first published between 1856 and 1858 and depict scenes from the city of Edo—now known as Tokyo—across all four seasons, they rarely go on view.
In a notable contrast to the Brooklyn Museum’s last exhibition of the series in 2000, the collection will be displayed alongside rarely seen folk art and household objects. Furniture, advertising signs, cooking utensils, and costumes will bring to life a time of rapid socioeconomic and environmental change in the city that would become Tokyo.
“Hiroshige’s series is a loving tribute to a city, rendered with an insider’s knowledge,” says Joan Cummins, the museum’s senior curator of Asian art. “The exhibition celebrates the formal qualities of the prints, which were radical in their own time, but it also decodes details in the Views to reveal the distinctive characteristics of Edo’s many neighborhoods. Hiroshige’s original audience would have enjoyed the prints for their ability to capture the beauty and culture of a city they knew well. It can be difficult to imagine that these bucolic landscapes would turn into Tokyo, but our aim is to help understand that transition by rooting the Views in real life.”
While the display of everyday objects gives a richer context to life in mid-nineteenth century Edo, Cummins drives home the stark evolution between this period and modern-day Tokyo through the inclusion of two contemporary artists. Photographs from Tokyo resident Álex Falcón Bueno accompany select prints of the same locations; his work highlights the radical differences wrought by the passage of time, but capture elements that are surprisingly familiar. Artist Takashi Murakami will offer his own link to the present, taking the viewer in a more fantastic direction. While Murakami has drawn from traditional Japanese art throughout his career, recently woodblock prints have been a prominent source of inspiration. For this exhibition, he has looked to individual print designs from 100 Famous Views of Edo for brand-new imagery that will debut with his special installation.
Hiroshige’s 100 Famous Views Of Edo (feat. Takashi Murakami) • Brooklyn Museum • April 5 to August 4 • brooklynmuseum.org
