Final Japanese print exhibition at Bristol Museum

This month sees the third and final instalment in a series of exhibitions showcasing Bristol’s collection of Japanese woodblock prints.

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery has some 500 ‘floating world pictures’ (ukiyo-e) which celebrate the pleasures of life in Japan. The collection ranks in the top five regional UK collections.

Featuring over 60 rare and colourful woodblock prints, the third exhibition in the Masters of Japanese Prints series will celebrate the Japanese fascination with the turning seasons and nature. It will feature perhaps the most famous Japanese woodblock print of all time – Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’ by Katsushika Hokusai © Bristol Culture

“Japan’s four distinct seasons have been a source of inspiration for artists and poets for hundreds of years,” explains Kate Newnham, senior curator of Visual Art at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. “The prints in this exhibition explore the plants, birds, insects and weather that act as powerful symbols of seasonal change in Japanese culture. The designs celebrate poetic pleasures such as the cherry blossom and wisteria of spring, cicadas and summer festivals, geese flying across the autumn moon, and views of snow in winter.”

‘East Slope at Kanda Myōjin Shrine’ by Utagawa Hiroshige © Bristol Culture

Much of Bristol’s ukiyo-e collection was acquired from the 1940s to the 1960s under the museum’s arts curator and later director, Hans Schubart. His vision was for Bristol’s collection to stand on the world stage – and, as such he felt that it was essential to have examples of Japanese woodblock prints, whose “great subtleties of colour, delicacy of line and elegance of composition” he much admired.
Schubart began collecting Japanese ukiyo-e prints in 1946 – a good time to collect Japanese art, as it was unpopular in Britain after World War II in which Japan had been our adversary.

“By the 1960s print prices were much higher but Schubart was still collecting ambitiously, applying for financial help from the grant-in-aid scheme, Bristol City Council and the Friends of Bristol Art Gallery,” Kate explains. “The Friends were, and still are, an extremely helpful group of local supporters and fundraisers.”

‘Geese Flying across Full Moon’ by Utagawa Hiroshige © Bristol Culture

At the time, Schubart was competing with museums including the British Museum and Canbridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum for prints at auction. Schubart’s confidence, though, was such that in 1964 he described Bristol’s Japanese print collection as “the most important outside London”.

“Our Masters of Japanese prints series has been hugely popular and attracted nearly 70,000 visitors since the end of September,” Kate continues. It makes us all the more eager to present the last show in the series. In this one, visitors will be able to encounter the fleeting joys of nature through the eyes of some of Japan’s best-loved print designers such as Hiroshige, Hokusai, Harunobu and Kuniyoshi.”

‘Woman Under Cherry Trees’ by Utagawa Yoshitora © Bristol Culture

The exhibitions have been made possible thanks to a fundraising campaign that raised almost £21,000 towards the conservation and display of the works. Generous contributions from individual donors and the Friends of Bristol Art Gallery have enabled the prints to be remounted and stored to prevent the light sensitive inks from fading.

“These three exhibitions have offered visitors glimpses into a feudal Japanese world which, although full of traditions, was also ever-changing,” Kate explains. “The prints reveal bustling and growing cities, a fascination with celebrity (kabuki actors, courtesans, pin-up waitresses), changing fashions and the world’s first department stores, the growth of commerce, fast food and advertising.”

Masters of Japanese Prints: Nature and the Seasons Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, May 18-Sept 8. For more info, visit www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/whats-on/masters-of-japanese-prints-nature-and-seasons

Top pic: Tōeizan Temple at Ueno by Utagawa Hiroshige © Bristol Culture

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