Elegance & Excellence:
Modern Women of Shin hanga
from 6 May
The subject of women has been linked to Japanese woodblock prints since the 17th century. Bijin (beauties) are a popular theme in 20th century printmaking, and have continuously captivated audiences and collectors worldwide. Elegance & Excellence: Modern Women of Shin hanga, explores the numerous artists in the Nihon no hanga collection that devoted prints to refine the ideal image of Japanese female beauty. This exhibition examines the ‘elegant’ and modern appearance of women in bijin hanga (beauty prints) of the shin hanga (new print) tradition, known for its accomplished and ‘excellent’ technique within Japanese woodblock printmaking
Over seventy iconic prints will be on display by, among others, Ishii Hakutei, Hashiguchi Goyō, Itō Shinsui, Kitano Tsunetomi, Yamakawa Shūhō, Torii Kotondo, Kobayakawa Kiyoshi, Hirano Hakuhō, Ishikawa Toraji, Taki Shūhō, and Shimura Tatsumi.
Opening hours
weekends in May
From 6 May the exhibition Elegance & Excellence: Modern Women of Shin hanga will be open to visitors in our museum on the Keizersgracht!
Friday 6 May until Sunday 29 May
Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday: 12.00 – 17.00 hrs
Admission is free and in order of arrival. We do not take reservations.
Catalogue
available from 6 May
The Elegance & Excellence catalogue contains an introductory essay and all prints featured in the exhibition.
€ 12.50
Note: We can only accept international book orders, which will be processed in June.
Audio tour
free with every catalogue purchase
With every catalogue purchase, you can now listen to our audio tour (in Dutch) for free! Due to increased popularity, we will not be offering a guided tour in the museum. Good news is, visitors during the weekend are able to listen to the tour as well! You will receive a link our audio tour so you can listen to it on your own device.
Please do not forget to bring your earbuds or headphones!
New!
card wallets & posters
We have collaborated again with Bekking & Blitz to create a few new products. We have a new card wallet containing ten different beauties from this exhibition. The double cards are without text, perfect for your personal message.
€ 10.00
And by popular demand, we will also be selling three different designs as mini art posters (30 x 40 xm). Come to our museum to see which designs we have chosen!
€ 10.00 each
Note: we are unable to ship these items.
About this exhibition
an ode to beauties
This exhibition was inspired by the recent reprint of ‘Onnae Kindai bijin hanga zenshū – The female image: 20th century prints of Japanese beauties’ originally published in 2002 and revised and released in 2022 in Japan by Abe Publishing as ‘Kindai bijin hangashū – Prints of Japanese beauties in the 20th century’. In the original version six prints from our collection were featured. In the 2022 version, sixteen new artists were included. Nine of these new artists were chosen from the holdings of Nihon no hanga: Takehisa Yumeji, Nakazawa Hiromitsu, Ohira Kasen, Taki Shūho, Tachibana Sayume, Shimizu Miezō, Fuse Chōsun, Shimura Tatsumi, and Hirayama Rōkō. In total thirty prints from our collection were used in the revised edition. The original book played an important part in the shaping of our collection. We realised with this renewed publication it was the perfect opportunity to host an ode to the Japanese female figure in our 2022 spring exhibition.
Sōsaku hanga in Leiden
on view until 29 May
The exhibition ‘Sōsaku hanga’ with prints from our collection in Japan Museum SieboldHuis has been extended until 29 May 2022. With more than 150 works from the sōsaku hanga momevement on display, it shows the development of ‘creative prints’ in Japan. For the first time in Europe, an entire exhibition is dedicated to this movement, where the creative autonomy of Japanese print artists was most important.