- Special Event
Pleasure Boat on the Sumida River, 1800s. Teisai Hokuba (Japanese, 1771–1844). Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk; 153.3 x 76.2 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Kelvin Smith Collection, given by Mrs. Kelvin Smith, 1985.262
Asian Art Society Tour: Japan’s Floating World
About The Event
Join Asian Art Society members for a tour with Curator of Japanese Art Sinéad Vilbar of Japan’s Floating World, on view in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Japanese Galleries from April 8 to October 2.
A significant share of paintings, prints, and decorative arts made in Japan from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s captured artists’ responses to urban sex and entertainment districts unofficially known as the ukiyo (浮世), or “floating world.” Ukiyo-e (浮世絵), or “pictures of the floating world,” inspired by these exceptional spaces and their occupants, eschewed the grim realities of sex work, instead marketing beauty, celebrity, pleasure, and fashion, often in combination with allusions to famous literature or historical episodes.
Asian Art Society members will receive a digital invitation.
To join the Asian Art Society and to learn more, click here.