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L’affascinante mondo dell’Ukiyo-e in mostra a Bologna

photo credit: mondomostreskira.it

Dopo le esposizioni di Roma e Milano, le iniziative avviate nel 2016 per celebrare il 150° anniversario delle relazioni bilaterali Italia – Giappone proseguono a Bologna con la splendida mostra “HOKUSAI HIROSHIGE. Oltre l’onda”. Fino al 3 Marzo 2019 presso il Museo Civico Archeologico, sarà possibile esplorare l’affascinante mondo dell’Ukiyo-e – la stampa artistica giapponese, iconica rappresentazione del mondo fluttuante – attraverso una selezione di circa 250 opere provenienti dal Museum of Fine Arts di Boston, per la prima volta visibili in Italia.

Il progetto, ottimamente curato da Rossella Menegazzo con Sarah E. Thompson e prodotto da MondoMostre Skira, si sviluppa in un ricchissimo percorso, lungo il quale il visitatore può godere un’esperienza non solo raffinatamente estetica, ma anche densa di contenuti ed approfondimenti relativi alla vita e all’esperienza artistica dei due maestri.

Le audio guide, fornite gratuitamente con il biglietto d’ingresso, permettono infatti di apprezzare appieno il significato artistico ed il valore storico delle opere esposte, accompagnando passo per passo il visitatore attraverso spazi espositivi che col loro elegante ed essenziale design forniscono una cornice ideale alle stampe (unica pecca l’illuminazione, che costringe ad una visione molto ravvicinata e talvolta laboriosa a causa dei riflessi creati dal vetro che riveste le opere incorniciate).

photo credit: artribune.com

Maestri a confronto

La mostra si apre con la sezione dedicata ad Hokusai e alle sue Trentasei vedute del monte Fuji. La raccolta, edita tra il 1831 e il 1833 e giustamente considerata tra i capolavori del Maestro, è appunto dedicata alla montagna simbolo identitario del Giappone, vista da diverse province e nelle diverse stagioni, sempre uguale a se stessa ma al tempo stesso sempre nuova; quasi un esercizio di meditazione, attraverso il quale l’autore tenta di catturare l’essenza stessa del tempo attraverso la rappresentazione della ieratica immobilità del monte, contrapposta alle laboriose attività umane e all’incessante rinnovamento della natura.

Della raccolta fa parte la celeberrima xilografia La grande onda di Kanagawa, che il percorso espositivo accosta sapientemente, in una sorta di ideale passaggio del testimone, all’illustrazione di Hiroshige Il mare a Satta nella provincia di Suruga, realizzata 28 anni dopo quella dell’illustre maestro. La visione delle due opere affiancate permette di cogliere pienamente la cifra artistica dei due autori ed al tempo stesso le loro diversità. Hokusai fa infatti dispiegare orizzontalmente la propria onda, in una sorta di vortice circolare, il cui occhio incornicia il Monte Fuji che appare piccolissimo sullo sfondo, testimone impassibile dell’evento drammatico che si svolge invece in primo piano, rappresentato dall’impari lotta tra la barca dei pescatori e la potenza sovrumana dei flutti.
Hiroshige sceglie invece un formato verticale, che consente alla sua onda di impennarsi verso il cielo e dissolversi in una minuta spuma bianca, dalla quale sembrano quasi trarre origine gli uccelli in volo. Anche qui è presente una barca, ma vista in lontananza mentre solca serenamente un mare pacifico, completando così il quadro di generale armonia creato dagli elementi naturali in perfetto equilibrio tra loro.

La mostra prosegue quindi con un appassionante viaggio nel mondo di Utagawa Hiroshige attraverso diverse sezioni tematiche, rispettivamente intitolate Immagini di Viaggio, Tokaido e Kisokaido; Pesci, Molluschi, Crostacei ed Erbe, e ancora Fiori ed Uccelli; Vedute di Luoghi Lontani; Parodie e Umorismo ed infine le Cento Vedute dei Luoghi Celebri di Edo.

In esse il visitatore può esplorare l’intero universo creativo di quello che è stato giustamente definito “Maestro della pioggia e della neve”, per la straordinaria abilità ed eleganza con le quali rappresenta le diverse condizioni atmosferiche. Tale capacità appare immediatamente evidente nella raccolta Cinquantatre stazioni di posta del Tokaido, la cui esposizione è accompagnata da un ampio apparato didascalico che ben ne illustra il significato storico oltre che artistico.

Tuttavia il talento di Hiroshige non si esaurisce manieristicamente nella sua prodigiosa capacità di rappresentare paesaggi, fiori o animali, costantemente guidato da una sensibilità quasi religiosa nei confronti delle diverse manifestazioni del mondo naturale. Al maestro giapponese va infatti innanzitutto riconosciuto il merito di essere stato un grande innovatore, in grado di rigenerare un filone classico, come quello del paesaggio, attraverso elementi visivi che anticipano caratteristiche che diventeranno in seguito proprie della visione fotografica. Le sue illustrazioni si caratterizzano infatti per il sorprendente taglio fotografico della composizione, fatto di piani sovrapposti in cui elementi di grandi dimensioni posti in primissimo piano catturano lo sguardo dello spettatore, lasciando tutto il resto in piccolo sullo sfondo.

photo credit: artribune.com

photo credit: pinterest.it

Hiroshige e l’Occidente

Lo sguardo fotografico delle opere di Hiroshige, il suo tratto sicuro, le campiture uniformi di colore su aree delimitate da contorni scuri, quasi del tutto prive di sfumature e di effetti chiaroscurali, l’assenza di simmetria, le vedute a volo d’uccello: tutti questi elementi ebbero grande influenza sull’arte di alcuni impressionisti e post-impressionisti del calibro di Manet, Monet, Degas e van Gogh. Essi manifestarono la propria ammirazione assorbendo e rielaborando tali elementi grafici e compositivi o addirittura citandoli esplicitamente, come fa ad esempio Vincent van Gogh, che nel Ritratto di père Tanguy utilizza sei immagini ukiyo-e come sfondo per il suo personaggio.

Risulta quindi particolarmente emozionante per gli amanti dell’Arte poter ammirare nella mostra bolognese stampe come “Ponte di Shin-Ōhashi sotto la pioggia”, “ Susino in fiore” e “All’interno del santuario Kameido Tenjin”, la cui bellezza sedusse van Gogh e Monet al punto da indurli a realizzarne delle copie, seppure reinterpretate secondo la propria cifra personale. Né questo deve stupire, se si pensa che le stampe Ukiyo-e, importate inizialmente in Olanda dalla Compagnia delle Indie, esplosero come fenomeno socio-culturale in Occidente ed in particolare in Francia dopo l’Esposizione Universale del 1885, divenendo un elemento così influente sull’arte e sulla moda dell’epoca da determinare il fenomeno che l’incisore Philippe Burty nel 1873 definì Japonisme (trad. Giapponismo).

All’interno della mostra è possibile vedere per la prima volta anche opere estremamente rare, come i disegni a china preparatori per la produzione delle matrici di legno. Tali disegni venivano infatti distrutti durante il processo di lavorazione delle xilografie ed è quindi un fatto raro e prezioso poter apprezzare attraverso essi il tratto originario del maestro: fluido, sicuro, essenziale, sorprendentemente simile a quello dei più grandi mangaka (disegnatori di manga) contemporanei. Tutto il processo di produzione delle stampe è peraltro visibile in un interessante video, proiettato in una sala apposita, che completa l’apparato didattico dell’esposizione.

photo credit: timesnewromance.art

L’Ukiyo-e: la fugace bellezza del mondo fluttuante

Benchè Hiroshige venisse considerato un artista moderno già dai suoi contemporanei, per le sue innovative composizioni del paesaggio, egli si dedicò anche a filoni dell’Ukiyo-e più tradizionali e maggiormente richiesti dal mercato del tempo, come le scene di vita quotidiana del nascente ceto cittadino nelle località più belle e conosciute del tempo, in particolare Edo (l’attuale Tokyo).

L’ultima sezione della mostra, Cento Vedute dei Luoghi Celebri di Edo, evidenzia il tratto più legato a tale filone, il filo rosso che unisce le diverse creazioni dei maestri della stampa artistica giapponese. L’Ukiyo-e (letteralmente ‘immagini del mondo fluttuante’) è infatti un genere che fiorisce in epoca Edo nel Giappone pacificato e prospero dello shogunato Tokugawa e che risponde al gusto della nascente borghesia cittadina, rappresentando il nuovo stile di vita dei chonin (gente di città), cioè di quegli artigiani e commercianti che grazie alle loro attività detengono ormai il potere economico, mentre l’austera casta samuraica, sempre più burocratizzata e sempre meno guerriera, si occupa di gestire il potere politico.

L’Ukiyo-e è perciò rappresentazione ottimistica di quel “mondo fluttuante”, di quella vita palpitante della città, effimera e di breve durata, che deve essere goduta in una sorta di carpe diem orientale, immergendosi appieno nella sua incessante corrente, in contrapposizione ironica all’ukiyo buddista, che indica il ‘mondo della sofferenza’, il costante ciclo di morte e rinascita terrena da cui il monaco buddista tenta di liberarsi.
Anche in questa rappresentazione della vita della città e dei suoi protagonisti Hiroshige eccelle, donando alle proprie composizioni lo stesso senso di equilibrio ed armonia che pervade le sue raffigurazioni del mondo naturale.

La mostra bolognese rappresenta quindi un’occasione imperdibile per accostarsi ad un genere artistico che da secoli affascina l’Occidente e che non mancherà di conquistare i neofiti, ma anche per approfondire la conoscenza di un mondo magari già noto, grazie ai diversi strumenti messi a disposizione dal progetto. Oltre al vasto corredo informativo presente nell’esposizione, è infatti possibile usufruire di visite guidate tematiche, strutturate sia per le scuole dei diversi ordini e gradi che per il pubblico adulto.

L’iniziativa sarà inoltre completata da un ciclo di eventi speciali e conferenze centrate su diversi aspetti non solo del mondo dell’Ukiyo-e, ma anche della cultura giapponese globalmente intesa. Le modalità di partecipazione ed il calendario completo degli eventi sono consultabili presso il curatissimo sito ufficiale della mostra: www.oltrelonda.it[:en]

The fascinating world of Ukiyo-e on show in Bologna

photo credit: mondomostreskira.it

After the exhibitions in Rome and Milan, the initiatives launched in 2016 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy-Japan bilateral relations continue in Bologna with the wonderful exhibition of Hokusai and Hiroshige titled “HOKUSAI HIROSHIGE. Beyond the wave “. Until March 3, 2019, it is possible to explore at Museo Civico Archeologico the fascinating world of Ukiyo-e – the Japanese art press, the iconic representation of the floating world – through a selection of about 250 works from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, for the first time available in Italy.

The project, excellently curated by Rossella Menegazzo with Sarah E. Thompson and produced by MondoMostre Skira, develops in a very rich path through which the visitor can enjoy an aesthetically refined experience full of contents and insights related to the life and the artistic experience of the two masters.

The audio guides, provided free of charge with the admission ticket, allow the visitor to fully appreciate the artistic significance and historical value of the exhibited works, accompanying the visitor step by step through exhibition spaces that with their elegant and essential design provide an ideal setting for prints (the only flaw is the lighting, which forces to a very close and sometimes laborious vision due to the reflections created by the glass that covers the framed works).

photo credit: artribune.com

Masters comparison

The exhibition opens with a section dedicated to Hokusai and to his thirty-six views of Mount Fuji. The collection, published between 1831 and 1833 and rightly considered one of Master’s masterpiece, is dedicated to the mountain, the symbol of identity of Japan, seen by different provinces and in different seasons, always the same and always new. It is an exercise of meditation, through which the author tries to capture the essence of time through the representation of the immobility of the mountain, as opposed to laborious human activities and the incessant renewal of nature.

Part of the collection is the famous woodcut The great wave of Kanagawa. The exhibition approach cleverly combines, in a sort of ideal passage, the great wave of Kanagawa with the Hiroshige’s The Sea in Satta in the province of Suruga, made 28 years after that of famous teacher. The vision of the two works side by side allows the visitor to fully grasp the artistic value of the two authors and at the same time their differences. Hokusai represents his wave horizontally, in a sort of circular vortex, with the Mount Fuji appear very small in the background, impassive witness of the dramatic event that instead takes place in the foreground, represented by the unequal struggle between the boat of the fishermen and the superhuman power of the waves.
Instead, Hiroshige chooses a vertical format, allowing his wave to rise upwards into the sky and dissolve into minute white foam, from which the birds in flight seem to almost originate. Here too there is a boat, seen in the distance while serenely sailing a peaceful sea, thus completing the picture of general harmony created by the natural elements in perfect balance.

The exhibition continues with an exciting journey into the world of Utagawa Hiroshige through various thematic sections titled Travel Images, Tokaido and Kisokaido; Fish, Molluscs, Crustaceans and Herbs, and also Flowers and Birds; Views of Distant Places; Parodies and Humor and finally the Hundred Views of the Famous Places of Edo.

The visitor can explore the entire creative universe rightly called “Master of rain and snow”, because of the extraordinary skill and elegance representing the different atmospheric conditions. This ability is immediately evident in the illustrating i its historical as well as artistic significance.

The talent of Hiroshige, constantly guided by an almost religious sensitivity towards the different manifestations of the natural world, is not detected only by his prodigious ability to represent landscapes, flowers or animals. The Japanese master has been a great innovator able to regenerate the classic way of representing the landscape through visual elements anticipating characteristic of the future photographic vision. His illustrations are in fact characterized by the striking photographic cut of the composition, made up of overlapping layers where large elements placed in the foreground capture the viewer’s attention, leaving everything else small in the background.

photo credit: artribune.com

photo credit: pinterest.it

Hiroshige and the West

The photographic characteristics of Hiroshige’s works, the firm tract, the uniform color of backgrounds bordered by dark contours, absence of nuances and chiaroscuro effects, lack of symmetry, had great influence on the art of some impressionists and post-impressionists such as Manet, Monet, Degas and van Gogh. They showed their admiration by absorbing and reworking these graphic and elements or even explicitly citing them, as Vincent van Gogh did in the Portrait of père Tanguy using six ukiyo-e images as background for his character.

It is therefore particularly exciting to admire in the Bologna exhibition prints like “Shin-Ōhashi Bridge in the rain”, “Susino in bloom” and “Inside the sanctuary Kameido Tenjin”, appreciated by van Gogh and Monet to the point of inducing them to make copies, albeit reinterpreted according to their personal figure. Ukiyo-e prints were originally imported in Holland by the India Company and exploded as a socio-cultural phenomenon in the West and in particular in France after the Universal Exhibition of 1885. They became so influencial on the art and fashion of the era to determine the phenomenon that the engraver Philippe Burty in 1873 defined Japonisme.

Inside the exhibition, for the first time, the visitor can see very rare works, such as the Indian ink drawings, preparatory work for the production of wooden matrices. These drawings were in fact destroyed during the woodcutting process and it is therefore a rare and precious fact to be able to appreciate the master’s original trait through them: fluid, safe, essential, surprisingly similar to that of the greatest mangakas (contemporary manga designers). The entire production process of the prints is also visible in an interesting video, projected in a special room, which completes the educational steps of the exhibition.

photo credit: timesnewromance.art

Ukiyo-e: the fleeting beauty of the floating world

Hiroshige was considered a modern artist by his contemporaries for his innovative compositions of the landscape. However, he also dedicated himself to the traditional Ukiyo-e more requested by the market of the time, as the scenes of daily life of the nascent town social class in the most beautiful and known places of the time, in particular Edo (the current Tokyo).

The last section of the exhibition, One hundred views of Edo’s famous places is the most representative stream, the red thread linking the different creations of the masters of the Japanese art press. The Ukiyo-e (‘images of the floating world’) is a genre that flourishes in the Edo era in the pacified and prosperous Japan of the Tokugawa shogunate It responds to the taste of the rising city bourgeoisie, representing the new chonin lifestyle ( people of the city), the lifestyle of those artisans and traders who, thanks to their activities, now hold economic power, while the austere samuraic caste, more and more bureaucratized and less warlike, deals with managing political power.

The Ukiyo-e is therefore an optimistic representation of that “floating world”, of that palpitating life of the city, ephemeral and of short duration, which must be enjoyed in a sort of oriental carpe diem, plunging fully into its incessant current, in contrast ironic to the Buddhist ukiyo, indicating instead the ‘world of suffering’, the constant cycle of death and earthly rebirth from which the Buddhist monk tries to free himself.
Also in this representation of the life of the city and its protagonists, Hiroshige excels, giving to his compositions the same sense of balance and harmony that pervades his depictions of the natural world.

The Bolognese exhibition is therefore an unmissable opportunity to approach an artistic genre that has been fascinating the West for centuries and will not fail to conquer the neophytes, as well as to deepen the knowledge of a world maybe already known. In addition to the extensive information in the exhibit, it is in fact possible to take advantage of thematic guided tours, structured both for schools of different orders and degrees and for the adult public.

The initiative is completed by a series of special events and conferences focused on different aspects of the world of Ukiyo-e and of the Japanese culture. The complete calendar of events can be consulted at the official website of the exhibition: www.oltrelonda.it[:ja]

The fascinating world of Ukiyo-e on show in Bologna

photo credit: mondomostreskira.it

After the exhibitions in Rome and Milan, the initiatives launched in 2016 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy-Japan bilateral relations continue in Bologna with the wonderful exhibition of Hokusai and Hiroshige titled “HOKUSAI HIROSHIGE. Beyond the wave “. Until March 3, 2019, it is possible to explore at Museo Civico Archeologico the fascinating world of Ukiyo-e – the Japanese art press, the iconic representation of the floating world – through a selection of about 250 works from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, for the first time available in Italy.

The project, excellently curated by Rossella Menegazzo with Sarah E. Thompson and produced by MondoMostre Skira, develops in a very rich path through which the visitor can enjoy an aesthetically refined experience full of contents and insights related to the life and the artistic experience of the two masters.

The audio guides, provided free of charge with the admission ticket, allow the visitor to fully appreciate the artistic significance and historical value of the exhibited works, accompanying the visitor step by step through exhibition spaces that with their elegant and essential design provide an ideal setting for prints (the only flaw is the lighting, which forces to a very close and sometimes laborious vision due to the reflections created by the glass that covers the framed works).

photo credit: artribune.com

Masters comparison

The exhibition opens with a section dedicated to Hokusai and to his thirty-six views of Mount Fuji. The collection, published between 1831 and 1833 and rightly considered one of Master’s masterpiece, is dedicated to the mountain, the symbol of identity of Japan, seen by different provinces and in different seasons, always the same and always new. It is an exercise of meditation, through which the author tries to capture the essence of time through the representation of the immobility of the mountain, as opposed to laborious human activities and the incessant renewal of nature.

Part of the collection is the famous woodcut The great wave of Kanagawa. The exhibition approach cleverly combines, in a sort of ideal passage, the great wave of Kanagawa with the Hiroshige’s The Sea in Satta in the province of Suruga, made 28 years after that of famous teacher. The vision of the two works side by side allows the visitor to fully grasp the artistic value of the two authors and at the same time their differences. Hokusai represents his wave horizontally, in a sort of circular vortex, with the Mount Fuji appear very small in the background, impassive witness of the dramatic event that instead takes place in the foreground, represented by the unequal struggle between the boat of the fishermen and the superhuman power of the waves.
Instead, Hiroshige chooses a vertical format, allowing his wave to rise upwards into the sky and dissolve into minute white foam, from which the birds in flight seem to almost originate. Here too there is a boat, seen in the distance while serenely sailing a peaceful sea, thus completing the picture of general harmony created by the natural elements in perfect balance.

The exhibition continues with an exciting journey into the world of Utagawa Hiroshige through various thematic sections titled Travel Images, Tokaido and Kisokaido; Fish, Molluscs, Crustaceans and Herbs, and also Flowers and Birds; Views of Distant Places; Parodies and Humor and finally the Hundred Views of the Famous Places of Edo.

The visitor can explore the entire creative universe rightly called “Master of rain and snow”, because of the extraordinary skill and elegance representing the different atmospheric conditions. This ability is immediately evident in the illustrating i its historical as well as artistic significance.

The talent of Hiroshige, constantly guided by an almost religious sensitivity towards the different manifestations of the natural world, is not detected only by his prodigious ability to represent landscapes, flowers or animals. The Japanese master has been a great innovator able to regenerate the classic way of representing the landscape through visual elements anticipating characteristic of the future photographic vision. His illustrations are in fact characterized by the striking photographic cut of the composition, made up of overlapping layers where large elements placed in the foreground capture the viewer’s attention, leaving everything else small in the background.

photo credit: artribune.com

photo credit: pinterest.it

Hiroshige and the West

The photographic characteristics of Hiroshige’s works, the firm tract, the uniform color of backgrounds bordered by dark contours, absence of nuances and chiaroscuro effects, lack of symmetry, had great influence on the art of some impressionists and post-impressionists such as Manet, Monet, Degas and van Gogh. They showed their admiration by absorbing and reworking these graphic and elements or even explicitly citing them, as Vincent van Gogh did in the Portrait of père Tanguy using six ukiyo-e images as background for his character.

It is therefore particularly exciting to admire in the Bologna exhibition prints like “Shin-Ōhashi Bridge in the rain”, “Susino in bloom” and “Inside the sanctuary Kameido Tenjin”, appreciated by van Gogh and Monet to the point of inducing them to make copies, albeit reinterpreted according to their personal figure. Ukiyo-e prints were originally imported in Holland by the India Company and exploded as a socio-cultural phenomenon in the West and in particular in France after the Universal Exhibition of 1885. They became so influencial on the art and fashion of the era to determine the phenomenon that the engraver Philippe Burty in 1873 defined Japonisme.

Inside the exhibition, for the first time, the visitor can see very rare works, such as the Indian ink drawings, preparatory work for the production of wooden matrices. These drawings were in fact destroyed during the woodcutting process and it is therefore a rare and precious fact to be able to appreciate the master’s original trait through them: fluid, safe, essential, surprisingly similar to that of the greatest mangakas (contemporary manga designers). The entire production process of the prints is also visible in an interesting video, projected in a special room, which completes the educational steps of the exhibition.

photo credit: timesnewromance.art

Ukiyo-e: the fleeting beauty of the floating world

Hiroshige was considered a modern artist by his contemporaries for his innovative compositions of the landscape. However, he also dedicated himself to the traditional Ukiyo-e more requested by the market of the time, as the scenes of daily life of the nascent town social class in the most beautiful and known places of the time, in particular Edo (the current Tokyo).

The last section of the exhibition, One hundred views of Edo’s famous places is the most representative stream, the red thread linking the different creations of the masters of the Japanese art press. The Ukiyo-e (‘images of the floating world’) is a genre that flourishes in the Edo era in the pacified and prosperous Japan of the Tokugawa shogunate It responds to the taste of the rising city bourgeoisie, representing the new chonin lifestyle ( people of the city), the lifestyle of those artisans and traders who, thanks to their activities, now hold economic power, while the austere samuraic caste, more and more bureaucratized and less warlike, deals with managing political power.

The Ukiyo-e is therefore an optimistic representation of that “floating world”, of that palpitating life of the city, ephemeral and of short duration, which must be enjoyed in a sort of oriental carpe diem, plunging fully into its incessant current, in contrast ironic to the Buddhist ukiyo, indicating instead the ‘world of suffering’, the constant cycle of death and earthly rebirth from which the Buddhist monk tries to free himself.
Also in this representation of the life of the city and its protagonists, Hiroshige excels, giving to his compositions the same sense of balance and harmony that pervades his depictions of the natural world.

The Bolognese exhibition is therefore an unmissable opportunity to approach an artistic genre that has been fascinating the West for centuries and will not fail to conquer the neophytes, as well as to deepen the knowledge of a world maybe already known. In addition to the extensive information in the exhibit, it is in fact possible to take advantage of thematic guided tours, structured both for schools of different orders and degrees and for the adult public.

The initiative is completed by a series of special events and conferences focused on different aspects of the world of Ukiyo-e and of the Japanese culture. The complete calendar of events can be consulted at the official website of the exhibition: www.oltrelonda.it[:]