Hokusai and Ukiyo-e: The Floating World, Artworks from the Chiossone Collection.

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Dates TBA

The Cleve Carney Museum of Art (CCMA) and McAninch Art Center, (MAC) located on at the College of DuPage (COD), 425 Fawell Blvd., has announced the next major summer art exhibition coming in 2025: “Hokusai and Ukiyo-e: The Floating World, Artworks from the Chiossone Collection.” The exhibition will feature over 50 original works by renowned artists from the Japanese Edo Period, along with several educational and interactive experiences and installations throughout the MAC. The exhibition is organized by the Cleve Carney Museum of Art in collaboration with The Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art of Genoa, and with the support of MondoMostre.

The “Hokusai and Ukiyo-e: The Floating World” exhibition showcases over 50 original artworks by masters of Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868). Works by acclaimed artists Hokusai and Hiroshige provide a window into life during a time when the City of Edo (present-day Tokyo) thrived as the center of Japan’s economy and culture.

Featured artwork includes ten works by Hokusai, including “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” from the series “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji,” and 17 works by Hiroshige, known for his traditional woodblock prints, along with works by 15 of their contemporaries. The collection includes hand-painted hanging scrolls in paper and silk as well as elegant and detailed multi-colored woodblock prints as beautiful as brocade as their name nishiki-e indicates. The selection is enriched by the presentation of original and refined art and craft objects in dialogue with the paintings and prints that often are representing them and their common use.

The opulent works are quintessential representations of the Japanese art form known as “Ukiyo-e,” or “floating world images,” in which artists depict an idealized world of grandeur, class, wit, style, and pleasure, created during a period when Japan was limiting international relationships to one port that is Nagasaki, offering a unique point of view. The scrolls, prints and fans created during this time brought international notoriety to Japan giving birth to the Japanism trend. When Japan did open its borders, these pieces fascinated and influenced the world’s artists including impressionists such as Monet and Degas and later Van Gogh.

“Art at this time was very intimate and often used as entertainment for home gathering, with themes of performing arts, courtly life, nature, and the vibrant urban culture of Edo,” said CCMA Curator Justin Witte. “Now 200 years later, the striking and graphic style of these images still feels fresh and innovative, inspiring contemporary artists and illustrators.”

In addition to the artwork, the exhibition will include: a historical area and timeline with multi-media elements; an outdoor Japanese garden; a children’s Edo art & anime area with coloring pages and activities; an interactive Edo Experience with Shogun and Kabuki garments and more.

“As with past major exhibitions, including ‘Frida Kahlo: Timeless’ and ‘WARHOL,’ the creative teams and designers of McAninch Arts Center will create interactive exhibition experiences that help visitors connect with this enchanting era of Shoguns, Samurai and Geisha, that are rich educational experiences and special events that enhance understanding and appreciation of the Japanese Edo era,” said MAC Director and Exhibition Executive Director Diana Martinez.

The exhibition is organized by the Cleve Carney Museum of Art, with works from the The Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art that was originally collected by Edoardo Chiossone (1833-1898) and whose collection is known worldwide for the quality of art and its remarkable state of conservation. The featured Ukiyo-e collection on loan will be curated by Professor and art historian Rossella Menegazzo of The University of Milan as part of the larger exhibition at the MAC and CCMA, curated by Justin Witte.

Tickets for “Hokusai and Ukiyo-e: The Floating World” will be available soon. More information about this exhibition will be announced at a later date.