In the podcast with Judith Rauser about ‘Made in Japan’

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In our eighteenth episode, we are at the Kunstmuseum Basel. The exhibition Made in Japan. Color Woodblock Prints by Hiroshige, Kunisada and Hokusai is on view until July 21, 2024. Kevin Schneider from Deutscher Kunstverlag talks to Judith Rauser, curator of the “Made in Japan” exhibition. She is curating the exhibition together with Hans Bjarne Thomsen. She is curating the exhibition together with Hans Bjarne Thomsen. In the podcast, she answers questions such as: What functions did the prints have? How did they shape our image of Japan? How did they influence Western art? What makes them so fascinating today? And what can visitors to the exhibition look forward to?

The exhibition presents a cross-section of the 18th and 19th centuries, the heyday of Japanese woodblock prints. Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) is probably the best-known representative. The oeuvre of Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) also helped the medium to become well known in Europe. During his lifetime, Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865) was the most productive and successful of them all. Artists such as Tōshūsai Sharaku or Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), who, like Kunisada, created expressive images of actors and other idealized figures, are far less well known in our part of the world. There are also protagonists from action-packed heroic stories that are reminiscent of graphic novels.

More about the catalog Made in Japan can be found here.