Picturing the Floating World: Japanese Art and the Makings of Popular Culture

The vibrantly colorful art of 19th century Edo (now Tokyo) was inventive and even subversive. This exhibition reveals the supremely captivating imagery of the ukiyo—meaning “floating world” in Japanese—which referred to the urban entertainment districts celebrating the transitory fashions and ephemeral pleasures of life. It features a remarkable selection of ivory carvings and lacquered cases from the Andrew J. Sordoni Collection and introduces twelve full-color polychrome woodblock prints never before on public display from the permanent collection of the Samek Art Museum. Exploring innovations in cutting-edge technologies of mass-production, the exhibition tells the story of how art became pop culture. It examines how art became accessible on an unprecedented scale during the Edo period (1615-1868) and how it helped convey alternative spaces that subverted the official hierarchical culture of the government. These commercial works enabled artists to guide trends not unlike the power of social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok today. The labels were written by students enrolled in Spring 2023 courses Arts of East Asia and Hokusai & the Global Art of Edo. - Professor Carolyn Wargula, Art History