statue near the museum entrance
Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas

News from Abroad: Japanese Woodblock Prints from Yokohama, Japan

Friday, July 21, 2006 - Monday, September 11, 2006

Title: Picture of a Children’s Dance Performance at the Gankirō Teahouse in Yokohama (Yokohama Gankirō kodomo teodori no zu)
Artist: Utagawa Yoshikazu (act. ca. 1850–70)
Culture/Country: Japan
Medium: Color woodblock print 1/1861
Signed: Issen Yoshikazu ga; published by Maruya Jimpachi
Collection Title: Crow Collection of Asian Art
Accession Number: L2006.302
Title: America: the Glorious Parade of President Grant (Mekoku: Guranto shi gotsūkō no han’ei)
Artist: Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900)
Culture/Country: Japan
Medium: Color woodblock print 7/1879
Signed: Ōju Toyohara Kunichika hitsu; published by Fukuda Kumajirō
Collection Title: Crow Collection of Asian Art
Accession Number: L2006.311
Title: New Invention: Picture of the Interior Works of a German Battleship (Shinhatsumei: Doitsukoku gunkan naikaku kikai no zu)
Artist: Unsen (act. ca. 1870–80)
Culture/Country: Japan
Medium: Color woodblock print 2/1874
Signed: Ōju Unsen hitsu; published by Masadaya Heikichi
Collection Title: Crow Collection of Asian Art
Accession Number: L2006.310
Work of Art and Detail of
Title: An American Sailing Ship in the Open Sea off Arai
Artist: Utagawa Yoshimori (1830–84)
Culture/Country: Japan
Medium: Color woodblock print 10/1872
From the series Painting and Calligraphy of the Fifty-Three Stations (Shoga gojūsan eki)
Signed: …Kōsai sha; published by Ōtaya Takichi
Collection Title: Crow Collection of Asian Art
Accession Number: L2006.308
Work of Art and Detail of
Title: Leopard Killing a Rooster
Artist: Ichiyusai Tsuyamasa (act. 1860–65)
Culture/Country: Japan
Medium: Color woodblock print 8/1860
Signed: Ichiyusai Tsuyamasa ga; published by Ebiya Rinnosuke
Collection Title: Crow Collection of Asian Art
Accession Number: L2006.306

Bewilderment, confusion, fascination, fear and astonishment describe the reaction to the arrival of Western trade ships in Japanese ports in the mid-19th Century. Bizarre languages, alien customs and exotic-looking people penetrated Japanese society bridging the East and the West. On display this summer at The Crow Collection – News from Abroad: Woodblock Prints from Yokohama, Japan is the first artistic medium to respond to the new influences affecting Japanese society in the 1850s.