Art of Asia (MIA) - Pictures of the Floating World

During the Edo Period (1615-1868), a uniquely Japanese art from developed known as ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world." For the first time in Japanese history, a rising class of city dwellers had the financial means to support an art of their own - an art which reflected their interests and tastes.

Masters of Japanese prints: Nature and Seasons

18 May - 8 September 2019 

Japan's four distinct seasons have been a source of inspiration to artists and poets for hundreds of years.

In these woodblock prints from Bristol’s collection plants, animals and weather act as powerful symbols of seasonal change.
When the prints were first made, Japanese customers would have understood how these natural motifs linked to local beliefs and Japan’s main religions of Shinto and Buddhism.
Educated people would have gained further pleasure from reading the poems inscribed on many of the prints and spotting visual references to classical Japanese novels and poetry.
This exhibition is the third of three showcasing Bristol Museum & Art Gallery’s Japanese woodblock prints, one of the top five regional collections in the UK.

See some of the prints here