When you think of Japanese woodblock print-making, you likely think of the 18th-and-19th-century greats: KITAGAWA Utamaro, KATSUSHIKA Hokusai, and UTAGAWA Hiroshige are all well-known around the world for their ukiyo-e works, but the art of woodblock printing continued to prosper well beyond their times. In fact, the artform thrived well into the more modern times of the 1920s and 1930s, evolving beyond ukiyo-e along the way, with a number of its artists using it to express their own unique takes on the liveliness of a newly-modernised Tokyo.

In this special talk event, KOYAMA Shuko, curator at the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Tokyo, will give an illustrated talk on hanga (woodblock print) works, with a particular focus on the 1920s and 1930s and the ways in which the artists of this time captured the changing city of Tokyo, while also comparing this more modern hanga to its ukiyo-e predecessors.

This event is organised in celebration of the opening of Tokyo, naissance d'une ville moderne (Tokyo, the Birth of a Modern City) at the Japan Foundation's Maison de la culture du Japon in Paris.

This event is free to attend, but booking is essential.
Click here to book your place on Eventbrite.

Date: 1 November 2024 from 6.30pm
Venue: The Hall, Japan House London, 101-111 Kensington High Street, London, W8 5SA


Organised by the Japan Foundation in collaboration with the Edo-Tokyo Museum.
Supported by Japan House London.