Scheduled Exhibition Various Perspectives on the Tokaido Highway:Hokusai, Toyokuni III and Hiroshige II
Exhibit Period
Friday, June 29 - Sunday, July 29, 2012
Exhibit Times
9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
(last admissions at 4:30 p.m.)
Organized by
The Nakagawa-machi Bato Hiroshige Museum of Art
Museum closed
Mondays (except when Monday is a holiday), and the day following a holiday
Admission Fee
Adults: 500 (450) yen High School, College Students: 300 (270) yen ※Fees in parentheses for groups of 20 or more ※Visitors age 70 and above, and junior high school age and below admitted for free Visitors with a disability certificate, and one accompanying caregiver admitted for half-price.
Overview
Works depicting the Tokaido Highway have been known about for a long time, but the most famous work was Jippensha Ikku’s humorous novel, Hizakurige Along the Tokaido Highway. It was published between 1802 and 1814, but due to the overwhelming number of sales, sequel editions of Hizakurige were published between 1810 and 1822. In response to these editions, ukiyo-e artists such as Kitagawa Utamaro, Utagawa Toyokuni and Utagawa Toyohiro produced a variety of works; Katsushika Hokusai produced approximately seven versions of the Tokaido Highway series in the years between 1801 and 1818. After this, around 1833, Utagawa Hiroshige published his Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Highway (commonly known as the Tokaido Highway Hoeido Edition). It became a best-seller, after which Hiroshige created approximately twenty Tokaido Highway series. In this exhibit we introduce Hiroshige’s rival Tokaido series artists. Katsushika Hokusai’s Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Highway, Traveler Bells (vertical chuban format) and Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Highway with Kyoka (horizontal koban format) are featured in the exhibit which also displays Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Highway by Hiroshige II, Beauties and the Tokaido Highway by Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), and others. We think you will enjoy comparing the works for differences with Hiroshige’s Tokaido Highway series. Each individual artist has richly infused his personality into these on-the-road travel depictions, making every artist’s Tokaido Highway series a pleasure to behold.
Museum Talk
Saturday, June 30, 2012 Starts at 1:30 p.m. Presented by a Hiroshige Museum curator