November 21, 2026–February 7, 2027
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849), Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa-oki nami-ura), also known as the Great Wave, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei), ca. 1830–31 (Tenpō 1–2). Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper. Nellie Parney Carter Collection—Bequest of Nellie Parney Carter. Photograph courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849), Sekiya Village on the Sumida River (Sumida-gawa Sekiya no sato),from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjūrokkei),ca. 1830–31 (Tenpō 1–2). Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper. William Sturgis Bigelow Collection. Photograph courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Utagawa Hiroshige I (Japanese, 1797–1858),View of the Ferry at Rokugō (Rokugō watashiba no kei), 1847–52 (Koka 4–Kaei 5). Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper. William Sturgis Bigelow Collection. Photograph courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Kawase Hasui (Japanese, 1883–1957), Tsukumojima, Shimabara, from the series Selected Views of Japan (Nihon fūkei senshū), 1922 (Taishō 11).Woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Museum purchase with funds donated by Mrs. Laurence A. Brown’s Group. Photograph courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Kawase Hasui (Japanese, 1883–1957), Azuma Gorge (Azuma-kyō), 1947 (Shōwa 22).Woodblock print; ink and color on paper. Gift of L. Aaron Lebowich. Photograph courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Holmes and Titelman Galleries
This exhibition presents works by the two great 19th-century Masters of the “Floating World”, Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), alongside modern prints by Kawase Hasui (1883-1957), a key member of the shin hanga (“new prints”) movement. Hasui developed new subjects and themes in woodblock color print through the mid-1950s, when he was named a “Living national treasure” in 1956. Through a selection of extraordinary woodblock color prints by these three masters, Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Kawase Hasui, the exhibition will take visitors on a journey through the most evocative places in Japan, both real and imaginary. It will illustrate the art of a country that underwent a huge transformation because of the influence of the West between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The Floating World of Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige unfolds, along with its transformation under the tastes of a society that increasingly aspired to European canons, a change to which Kawase Hasui bears witness.
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