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Introduction

Spring Blossoms

March 17 - June 11, 1995

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Japanese still used a traditional lunar calendar in which the new year began in early February. The first three months of that calendar were designated as spring, thus the season depicted in the prints in this exhibition falls somewaht earlier than spring in the United States. In Japan, the flowers most closely identified with this season are the plum (ume), certain varieties of the camellia (tsubaki), the peach (momo), and most of all, the cherry (sakura). The poetry on the prints makes associations typical for these blossoms, drawing upon a rich tradition of allusion that derives from both the Chinese and Japanese poetic traditions. In composition too, these images evolve from classical Chinese painted subjects to become uniquely Japanese renditions of the theme of "birds and flowers" (kacho-e).

Selected Objects

Japanese, Japan Tokyo

Moon and plum, early 1900s

Hasegawa Sadanobu II

Japanese Bush Warbler and Aronia (Kaido ni uguisu), 1850's

Utagawa Hiroshige

Blossoming Plum Branches (Ume), 1843-1847

Utagawa Hiroshige

Java Sparrow and Camellias (Tsubaki ni bunchô), 1830's

Utagawa Hiroshige

Barn Swallows and Peach Blossoms under Full Moon (Tsukiyo momo ni tsubame), early 1830s

Utagawa Hiroshige

Moon and Plum (Tsuki ni ume), 1843-1847

Katsushika Taito II

Finches and cherry blossoms (Sakura ni kimpara), 1830's

Nakamura Hōchū

Bush warbler and blossoming plum (Ume ni uguisu), late 1800s-early 1900s

Utagawa Hiroshige

Java Sparrow and Lily Magnolia (Mokuren ni bunchô), 1830's

Utagawa Hiroshige

Crested Bird and Flowering Crabapple (Kaidô ni kotori), 1830's

Utagawa Hiroshige

Long-tailed Bird and Peach Blossoms (Momo ni onagadori), 1830's

Utagawa Hiroshige

Great Tit and Camellias (Tsubaki ni shijūkara), 1830's

Utagawa Hiroshige

Great Tit and Cherry Blossoms (Sakura ni shijukara), 1830's

Utagawa Hiroshige

Sparrow and winter camellias (Kantsubaki ni suzume), 1843-1847

Toyohiro Utagawa

Hawk and white plum (Shiraume ni taka), 1810's

Utagawa Hiroshige

Great Tit and Mountain Cherry (Yamazakura ni shijûkara), 1840's

More objects +

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