A jewel-like collection of the most exquisite cherry blossoms in Japanese art celebrates the enduring power of spring. Drawn from the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the Smithsonian's museums of Asian art, these rare reproductions of gilded screens, woodblock prints, and ink on silk works offer sublimely rendered buds and blooms for all who cherish them. Since the eighteenth century, parties in Japan, from royal maidens to farmers, have gathered to view cherry trees, an essential symbol of the cycle of life. The flowers feature prominently in Japanese art; magnificent renderings by masters—including Hiroshige and Hokusai—show serene blossoms among tall evergreens, at the epicenter of national celebrations, or as surreal showers of petals. In 1912, Japan gifted more than 3,000 of these trees to Washington, D.C., as a symbol of friendship between nations. Today, we celebrate cherry blossom festivals across the United States and the world and see our cities framed by blossoming branches that herald spring. Text by the Freer|Sackler’s senior curator of Japanese art James T. Ulak explores this flowering tree’s timeless appeal and deep-rooted symbolism. In association with the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
The Cleveland Museum of Art has accumulated one of the premier collections of Japanese art in the West, and this publication brings together its best examples of Japanese art.
The Japanese landscape print has had a tremendous influence on Western art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In Japan and in the West it is often seen as the dominant form in Ukiyo-e, pictures from the floating world. And yet for all its importance, it is a genre whose history has never been written. Beyond The Great Wave is a survey or overview for all those interested in discovering the inner dynamics of one of art history's most remarkable achievements. However, it is also a quest narrative, in which landscapes and notions of Japan as a homeland are intertwined and interconnected. Although there has never been a book-length study of the Japanese landscape print in either Japanese or English, a great deal has been written about the two giants of the genre, Hokusai and Hiroshige. From what traditions did these two nineteenth-century artists emerge? Who were their predecessors? What influence, if any, did they have on other Ukiyo-e artists? Can their influence be seen in the shin-hanga and sôsaku-hanga artists of the twentieth century? This book addresses these issues, but it also looks at a number of other factors, such as the growth of tourism in nineteenth-century Japan, necessary for understanding this genre.
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