Past Exhibits: > Kachō-e
Kachō-e
The uniquely Japanese art form called ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world,” flourished from the 17th to 19th century and produced great quantities of woodblock prints. Within that broader framework was Kachō-e, a genre of bird and flower studies that included insects, reptiles, and other animals. The work on display spans one of the most creative eras in the history of Japanese art beginning with a last blooming of artistic expression during the final century of the Edo period. For 220 years, the Tokugawa Shogunate, a feudal military government, enforced almost total isolation. Sequestered, Japanese culture and picture-making found its own way in a vacuum. Change came in July 1853, when a squadron of U.S. warships, commanded by Commodore Perry, entered Tokyo Bay and forced the opening of Japanese trade with the West resulting in rapid modernization and the birth of a vibrant new creative aesthetic. Both of these eras and the changes that occurred are represented in this exhibit.
