Depicting Flowers, Birds, Insects and Fish—Okyo, Hiroshige and Siebold

April 14 (Sun.), 2019 – June 2 (Sun.)

This is our first attempt to hold an exhibition centering on paintings in our collection that depict animals and plants. These displays consist of Japanese paintings and ukiyoe woodblock prints from the Edo Period (18th century) and lithographs from the 19th century created in Europe. Japanese ones include sketches by Maruyama Okyo, ukiyoe woodblock prints by the world-famous Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige, and modern oil still-life paintings by Kumagai Morikazu and Takama Soshichi. The ones from Europe are lithographs, with colors added by hand, in Fauna Japonica and Flora Japonica published by Siebold, a German doctor and biologist who lived in Japan. A wild plant picture book from England and an Asian bird picture book from Asia, both of which were published around the same period, are also on display.

* The selection for the display is planned to change during the exhibition period.