Hiroshige Blue— Blue Attracted the World

Ota Memorial Museum of Art

This event has ended.

Western artists such Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet loved the works of Hiroshige Utagawa, a famous ukiyo-e artist in the late Edo period. In particular, they admired the bold composition and beautiful blue colors used in Hiroshige’s pieces. In the days of Hiroshige, the color Berlin blue, also known as Prussian blue, was produced inexpensively in China and brought over to Japan by Dutch ships. Different from the preexisting indigo blue, Prussian blue became a popular color of choice for ukiyo-e artists at the time. Many artists, including Eisen Keisai and Hokusai Katsushika, created work after work with this new color. Hiroshige Utagawa’s rich lyricism in depicting scenes of the sky and water is shown through the sometimes lavish and sometimes delicate application of this blue. This exhibition presents works using Berlin blue, with a focus on those by Hiroshige Utagawa. The show aims to get to the heart of why people both inside and outside Japan continue to be attracted to Hiroshige’s blue.

[Exhibition Schedule]
Part 1: Apr. 1 (Tues)–Apr. 27 (Sun)
Part 2: May 1 (Thurs)–May 28