Featuring original woodblock prints from Bristol’s collection, this exhibition explores the sophisticated urban culture of Japan in the 18th and 19th centuries, from fashion and day trips to geisha and the kabuki theatre.

This is the second exhibition in Bristol’s Masters of Japanese Prints series.

This exhibition will explore how artists and craftspeople developed fine multi-colour prints with increasingly sophisticated effects to respond to this demand whilst abiding by regulations laid down by the Shogunate, Japan’s military dictatorship.

The rare and colourful prints in Bristol’s collection, specially conserved and mounted for the exhibition, allow glimpses into Japanese urban life, both elegant and earthy, over 250 years ago.

Masters of Japanese Prints is a series of three exhibitions at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery in 2018-19.

Masters of Japanese prints: Hokusai and Hiroshige landscapes
22 September 2018 – 6 January 2019

Masters of Japanese prints: Life in the city
12 January – 12 May 2019

Masters of Japanese prints: Nature and seasons
18 May – 8 September 2019