The Great Masters of Japan at the Caumont Centre d'Art
Japanese costumes and culture dating from the Edo era (1600-1867)
Featuring grand Japanese masters Hokusai, Hiroshige, Harunobu, Sharaku and Utamaro, this exhibition will include 150 ukiyo-e prints and other remarkable objects that will be presented to the French public for the very first time. Most of the works are from the Georges Leskowicz Collection, which is one of the largest of its kind in the world.
Masterpieces such as Hokusai’s ‘Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji’ (1832–1833), ‘The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō’ by Hiroshige and Eisen, as well as an ensemble of Surimono woodblock prints, will constitute the core of the exhibition. Rare and refined prints made from precious materials and using particularly elaborate techniques, the Surimono woodblock prints combined figurative compositions with poetic texts. Printed in limited numbers, they were intended for restricted circles of intellectuals or cultural elites.
Representing the quintessence of Japanese refinement, these works illustrated the entire range of themes and images that were characteristic of the life and culture of ancient Japan presented in the exhibition: natural motifs and scenes of daily life, the representation of actors performing in the kabuki theatre and the beautiful inhabitants of Yoshiwara, still lifes relating to New Year celebrations, as well as war and erotic scenes, heroes and traditional legends.
The exhibition will also include crafted objects from the same era, carefully selected from private and public collections such as the Musée National des Arts Asiatiques - Guimet in Paris, the Musée des Arts Asiatiques in Nice, and the Musée de la Parfumerie in Grasse. Kimonos, hats, accessories, helmets, armour and writing utensils will be on display.
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Venue
Caumont Centre d'Art, Aix
