2024.11.06(Wed)〜2025.02.01(Sat)
The second collection exhibition during the Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum’s temporary closure, “Tokyo, Birth of a Modern City (Prints from the 1920s-1930s from the Edo-Tokyo Museum),” will be held in collaboration with and at the Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris (Paris, France). The first of these exhibitions was held in 2022 under the name “Un bestiaire japonais – Vivre avec les animaux à Edo-Tokyo (XVIIIe-XIXesiècle)” (English title: “Ikimono: Life with Animals in Edo Tokyo”).
Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868 (the first year of the Meiji Era), the city of Edo underwent rapid modernization, transforming into what we know as Tokyo today. When the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 swept away the old townscapes, with its vestiges of the past, the city was further transformed into one of steel and concrete, particularly in the central areas.
This exhibition will spotlight the 1930s as an era of great change, in which various woodblock printmakers created prints of urban landscapes in the wake of the unprecedented disaster that was the Great Kanto Earthquake, and the recovery from it. There was a reevaluation of the traditional purpose of ukiyo-e prints, which was to depict the scenery and customs of the period, and many printmakers turned their attention to the city’s transformation. The woodblock prints express both the sense of euphoria that came from the prospect of change, as well as the melancholy of losing the vestiges of the past, in a richly emotional and sensitive manner.
This exhibition will present this collection of modern woodblock prints of the Tokyo scenery in Paris—the site of numerous past exhibitions of ukiyo-e prints. We hope that this exhibition will provide an opportunity for mutual reflection on the cities of Paris and Tokyo, generate interest in modern Japanese woodblock prints, and deepen people’s understanding of the city of Tokyo.
Outline of event
| Period | Wednesday, November 6, 2024 – Saturday, February 1, 2025 | ||||||||
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| Venue | The Japan Cultural Institute in Paris, 2nd floor exhibition hall 101bis quai Jacques Chirac 75015 Paris France |
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| Exhibition Hours | Tuesday to Saturday 11:00 to 19:00 (Last admission 18:30) | ||||||||
| Closed | The museum is closed on Sundays, Mondays, holidays, and during the year-end and New Year holidays.(December 25th to January 3rd) | ||||||||
| Organized by | The Japan Foundation The Japan Cultural Institute in Paris, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture Tokyo Metropolitan Edo-Tokyo Museum | ||||||||
| Cooperated by | Association pour la MCJP, Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. | ||||||||
| Admission | General admission 5€, discount admission 3€ | ||||||||
| Seminar |
Opening Commemorative Lecture
Lecture
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Please click here to view more information about the exhibition.
Exhibition Overview
Prologue: Advancement of Modernization
In January 1868, the new Meiji government was established, replacing the Edo Shogunate. The influx of Western culture during this period of transformation, from the end of the Edo Period to the Meiji Era (1868-1912), brought about major changes in the world of printmaking. The woodblock prints created by printmakers such as Kobayashi Kiyochika and Inoue Yasuji, and which came to be called “kosen-ga (light-ray pictures),” were different from traditional ukiyo-e prints in that they were influenced by the influx of oil paintings, watercolors, lithographs, and photographs from the West, and attempted skillfully to capture such fleeting phenomena as light, shadow, and the changing of nature.
Chapter 1: Tokyo Before the Earthquake
As modernization progressed in the Taisho Era (1912-1926), traditional nishiki-e prints (brocade pictures) fell into disuse, and there came to be a wide variety of so-called sosaku-hanga (creative prints), in which the artist engraves and prints their works themselves, and “shin-hanga (new prints),” in which engravers, printers, and artists worked under publishers to study new styles of artistic expression. Each of these works featured a variety of new and innovative techniques of artistic expression with regards to printmaking, and reflected strongly the individuality of each printmaker, through subject matters such as the urban landscape and people’s lives. This section introduces works from before the Great Kanto Earthquake—specifically, depictions of a Tokyo that still retains vestiges of the city of Edo, as well as bijin-ga (beautiful women prints) and yakusha-e (actor prints).
（1） Tokyo and the Vestiges of Edo
（2）Bijin-ga and Yakusha-e: The Revival of Ukiyo-e Prints
Chapter 2: The Great Kanto Earthquake
The Great Kanto Earthquake, which occurred at 11:58 A.M. on September 1, 1923 (Taisho 12) and had an estimated magnitude of 7.9, caused extensive damage, primarily in Tokyo and the southern Kanto region. The devastation of the city was documented in numerous forms of media, with woodblock prints also depicting the loss from various perspectives. This section will introduce not only the woodblock prints featuring scenes of this disaster, but also documentation of the disaster, photos of the barrack architecture created in the city in the immediate aftermath, and more.
Chapter 3: Reconstruction of Tokyo
Tokyo was devastated by the Great Kanto Earthquake. Reconstruction efforts, however, began immediately, under an urban project called the “Teito Fukkyo Jigyo (Imperial Capital Reconstruction Project).” New arterial roads were constructed and existing ones expanded, river canals restored, various urban redevelopment plans implemented, and new parks and facilities established. This reconstruction project restructured the cityscape, transforming Tokyo from its pre-disaster cityscape, which still retained vestiges of Edo, to a modern cityscape with streets lined with reinforced concrete buildings. Meanwhile, the population in the areas adjacent to Tokyo grew, and the development of the railroad network led to the formation of residential areas in the suburbs. In 1932 (Showa 7), the five counties and 82 towns adjacent to Tokyo were incorporated into the city, forming a major metropolis comprised of 35 wards. This section introduces woodblock prints depicting the urban landscape following the reconstruction process.
（1）City of Steel and Concrete
（2）Establishment of the Greater Tokyo
Chapter 4: Modern Tokyo and Its People
A glamorous consumer culture, fed by entertainment facilities such as cafes and theaters, as well as department stores, swept across the entertainment areas of this newly reconstructed Tokyo. Areas like Ginza, Asakusa, and Shinjuku remained lit up through the night, and young people wearing cutting-edge fashions, known as “mobo” or “moga,” emerged onto the streets, creating new hedonistic trends. This section introduces the urban culture that flourished during this period, and the people who participated in it, all of which became an excellent subject matter for printmakers at the time.
（1）The City and Its Women
（2）Modern Urban Life
Epilogue: Changing Scenery
Then, however, came World War II. Tokyo was once again devastated, this time by air raids, and the reconstruction process that followed made it even more difficult to recall the cityscape of the past. This section introduces works depicting the postwar Tokyo cityscape, specifically those that seem to seek vestiges of the Tokyo of the past.
Exhibition Highlights
Kaiumbashi Bridge, the First National Bank in Snow |
Rain at Senju-Ohashi Bridge |
Items Damaged in the Great Kanto Earthquake |
One Hundred Scenes from Great Tokyo Metropolis in the Showa Era |
Twelve Views of the Great Tokyo: May, Night View of Ginza (Kyobashiku) |
Women in Four Settings: Autumn |
Catalog
To be sold at the ground-floor reception of the Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris and online
€28.00 / Size: 22 x 28 cm / 176 pages / French
Published: November 2024
Publisher: Éditions Gourcuff Gradenigo, Maison de la Culture du Japon à Paris
