『欧州管絃楽合奏之図』|Concert of European Music (Ōshū kangengaku gassō no zu)
Medium
Triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
Image: 14 1/2 x 29 in. (36.8 x 73.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Meiji period (1868–1912)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1959
Accession Number
JP3276
Tags
Art Historical Context
In Yōshū (Hashimoto) Chikanobu's *Concert of European Music* (1889), a captivating triptych woodblock print unfolds a panoramic scene of Western orchestral splendor. Vibrant inks and colors on paper bring to life musicians wielding cellos, violins, and piano, alongside singers and a mixed audience of men and women in formal attire, evoking the excitement of a European concert hall transported to Japan. Created during the Meiji period (1868–1912), this artwork captures Japan's whirlwind of modernization, when the nation eagerly embraced Western influences amid rapid industrialization and cultu...
About the Artist
Yōshū (Hashimoto) Chikanobu · 1838–1912
Toyohara Chikanobu, born Hashimoto Naoyoshi in 1838 in Echigo Province (modern Niigata Prefecture), emerged as one of the last great ukiyo-e masters during Japan's Meiji era. The son of a low-ranking samurai retainer to the Sakakibara clan, he trained initially in the Kanō school of painting before turning to ukiyo-e printmaking. He studied under a disciple of Keisai Eisen, then joined the studio ...