Home / Events / The Brilliance of Suzhou Prints— Popular Art that Blossomed in the Cosmopolitan City

Exhibition/event has ended.

The Brilliance of Suzhou Prints— Popular Art that Blossomed in the Cosmopolitan City

Finished

Historically, prints with auspicious themes, landscapes, flowers and birds, and beautiful figures have enriched the lives of people in China.
Most astonishing in that long history was the birth of a revolutionary popular art form now commonly called “Shuzhou prints”, which occurred in the cosmopolitan city of Shuzhou in the 17th and 18th centuries, combining Chinese and Western art traditions. It was a powerful force that did not stop with Chinese art, but went on to influence art abroad, such as in Japan and Europe.
Unfortunately, many of these Shuzhou prints were discarded in the course of everyday life, and very few have been passed down to present times, meaning we have not developed a deep understanding of the full picture.
In terms of both quality and quantity, the Umi-Mori Art Museum holds the world’s foremost collection of Chinese prints, with over 3,000 works including rare Shuzhou prints from the 17th and 18th centuries, as well as works from contemporary times. In this exhibition, we have selected approximately 300 works from the museum collection, including works publicly exhibited for the first time, in the hope that visitors will enjoy this previously unknown world of Chinese prints.

Part 1: March 11 - May 6
Part 2: June 3 - August 13

[Related Events]
1. Commemorative Conference "The Current State of Research on Chinese Prints"
Date: May 27 (Sat), 28 (Sun) 17:30-21:00
Language: Simultaneous interpretation in Japanese, Chinese and English.
Venue: Online Zoom meeting (URL will vary according to language.)
Speakers:
May 27: Hiromitsu Kobayashi (Honorary Professor, Sophia University), Masaaki Itakura (Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Tokyo), Yasushi Oki (Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Tokyo), Natsuko Tajima (Ome Municipal Museum of Art), Takayuki Aoki (Umi-Mori Art Museum)
May 28: Yu-chih Lai (Academia Sinica), Anita Xiaoming Wang (Birmingham City University), Anne Farrer (Sotheby's Institute of Art), Lucie Olivova (Masaryk University), CvdB (pending)
Participation: Application required.
2. Umi-Mori Art Museum Curator Gallery Talk
Date: March 25 (Sat), April 29 (Sat), June 24 (Sat), July 28 (Sat), August 12 (Sat) 13:30-
Venue: Umi-Mori Art Museum Exhibition Hall
Fee: Free (museum entrance fee required, application not required)
*Please check the official website for event details and how to apply.

Schedule

Mar 11 (Sat) 2023-Aug 13 (Sun) 2023