British Art

The British Museum to display rare prints of Edo Japan by Utagawa Hiroshige this summer

Freya
February 12, 2025
3 Mins Read

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The British Museum will take visitors on a journey through Edo Japan this summer through an exhibition of prints by Utagawa Hiroshige, one of Japan’s most popular and prolific artists.

Pleasure Boats at Ryōgoku in the Eastern Capital,1832-4 (c) Alan Medaugh. Photography by Matsuba Ryōko

This will be the first exhibition on Hiroshige in London for a quarter of a century and the first ever at the British Museum. When it opens in May, it will showcase prints that have never been displayed before, and several are believed to be the only surviving examples of their kind in the world.

The exhibition marks a major gift of 35 Hiroshige prints to the American Friends of the British Museum from the collection of Alan Medaugh, a leading US collector of the artist’s work. These will be shown alongside 82 other prints by Hiroshige, loaned by Medaugh, key national and international loans, and important works chosen from the Museum collection.

Nihonbashi – Morning Scene, from The 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō, c. 1833-35 (c) The Trustees of the British Museum

Utagawa Hiroshige’s 40-year career coincided with the last decades of Japan’s Edo period (1615–1868), a time of rapid change presaging the end of samurai rule. As Japan confronted the encroaching outside world and the pressures of modernisation, Hiroshige’s calm artistic vision encouraged a sense of continuity and hope. Across around 5,000 designs for colour woodblock prints, as well as hundreds of paintings and dozens of illustrated books, he offered aesthetic pleasure and emotional solace to people at every level of society in an age of transformation.

Possessed with outstanding technical skills as both a colourist and draftsman, Hiroshige also stands out for crossing social boundaries. Born into a samurai family, he chose instead to create accessible art for a popular audience.

Seba from the 69 Stations of the Kiso Highway, late 1830s By Utagawa Hiroshige (c) The Trustees of the British Museum

The exhibition will look at Hiroshige’s global legacy and how he inspired European masters such as Van Gogh and Whistler, as well as contemporary artists worldwide, including Julian Opie.

The exhibition, Hiroshige: artist of the open road opens on 1st May — and early bird tickets are on sale now from here.

  • Adult: £14
  • Children: Free
  • Concessions: £12
  • National Art Pass: £7

There is also a 2 for 1 offer for students on Friday (£12 for two people)

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