Boston Museum Presents Drama And Desire

With the establishment of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) as the major political and commercial center of Japan in the 17th century, a new type of imagery was developed, known as ukiyo-e. Masters of the artistic genre explored the daily activities of the city’s inhabitants and detailed the stylish preoccupations of the “Floating World,” the theaters and brothels of the area.

While many of these artists, such as Harunobu, Utamaro, and Hokusai, are well-known in the West for their woodblock prints, it was in the medium of painting that they actually received their major commissions.

The MFA’s curatorial staff collaborated with a team of leading Japanese scholars in recataloging the institution’s holdings of more than 700 ukiyo-e paintings, the finest collection in the world. Drama and Desire marks the first exhibition since the late 1800s highlighting the MFA’s outstanding holding of ukiyo-e paintings.

Organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, the exhibition went on a three-city tour of Japan in 2006 at the Kobe City Museum, Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and Edo-Tokyo Museum. -- www.mfa.org