Hokusai & Ukiyo-e exhibit featuring Shogun-era art makes its U.S. debut at College of DuPage

Chicago Tribune

03-06-2025

The College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn is celebrating Japan's iconic Shogun era with a never-seen-in-the-U.S. art exhibit.
'Hokusai & Ukiyo-e: The Floating World, Artworks from the Chiossone Collection,' a 70-piece collection, will be on display through Sept. 21 at the college's Cleve Carney Museum of Art and McAninch Arts Center.
The heart of the exhibition are pieces on loan from the Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art in Genoa, Italy, including 53 paintings and woodblock prints by the masters of ukiyo-e, a major artistic genre that flourished during Japan's Edo period (1603–1868).
Among the highlights are Katsushika Hokusai's iconic masterpiece, 'Under the Wave off Kanagawa,' and eight more of his original works. There also are 15 works by Utagawa Hiroshige, particularly known for the 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo' series, along with works by 15 done by their contemporaries and 17 handcrafted artifacts.
The exhibition is an immersive cultural dive into Japan's Shogun era, said Diana Martinez, executive director of the McAninch Arts Center. It includes centuries-old artworks, anime, digital art, children's activities and other interactive features, she said.
'That Edo period was a time of the Samuri and the geisha and the kabuki actors,' she said. 'It was a very animated time in Japan. These ukiyo-e artists were literally painting and drawing and woodblock-cutting the most popular characters of that culture — the sumo wrestlers, the kabuki actors, the geisha — and they learned how to make prints and were mass-producing these popular images of this time in their history.
'It's like the pop-art of Edo Japan. It's a very interesting show. It's never been seen before, this collection, here in the United States. I think this is going to be really spectacular,' she said. 'The collection shows a really broad array of what the masters did during this period.'
The collection is coming from a museum in Italy because Edoardo Chisossone was an accomplished engraver who moved to Japan in the 1700s when he was hired to update the engraving techniques of the country's bank notes, said Justin Witte, curator of the Cleve Carney Museum of Art. While there, Chisossone discovered a wealth of artwork and culture unseen by the rest of the world, he said.
'It is really fantastic that with all the fun things happening with the exhibit, all the information and historical aspects, that at its center in the museum galleries is this amazing collection that visitors will be able to encounter,' he said. 'They see a lot of history … really unfold in those objects and artworks.'
The exhibition also has a Japanese streetscape scene set during the Samuri time with recreations of Hokusai's home, a woodblock print shop, tea shop and market, Martinez said.
The Great Wave Garden is a curated outdoor space with live plants, including bonsai trees, and a Japanese bridge.
'We have a kid's area that's really beautiful. The windows look like you're looking over Mount Fuji out the window,' Martinez said. 'It will have original anime in there.'
Guests can explore the evolution of manga, or Japanese comics, through a fully designed environment, she said.
'Everything is painted white and outlined in black so it looks like you're walking into a comic strip,' Martinez said. 'A lot of people don't know that Hokusai was the grandfather of manga … he did 10 different best-selling editions of these sketchbooks. It was called Hokusai's manga. His intention at that time was to teach people to sketch.
'Graphic novels were the rage in Japan in the Edo period. He was teaching people how to draw different characters, animals, nature in these 10 volumes of sketchbooks. So you see the beginning of anime in Hokusai's time through now in six different rooms that feel like you're walking through a graphic novel.'
There will be a dedicated selfie area complete with mannequins wearing recreations of Samuri, Shogun and geisha costumes from Warner Brothers Studios, she said. Even the café will sell themed food and drink.
'The photo ops are really phenomenal for this one,' Martinez said.
And guests of all ages will enjoy the experience, Witte said.
'I think it's a balance to meet audiences at different levels and I think we definitely value the proper presentation of the actual works and hold that history, but we recognize that … we also have to provide things that will engage our audiences in different ways and engage a wide range of audiences,' he said. 'From our younger visitors to people who are interested in a more traditional museum approach.'
In a partnership titled 'Waves of DuPage: Beautiful Cities,' Naperville artist Rich Lo will create ukiyo-e style images of locations and buildings in DuPage County that will later be transformed into large-scale murals and installed in the community it represents. The murals will be unveiled in towns throughout the summer, she said.
That's not the only way the county is getting into it. There are more than 95 related events happening this summer, she said.
'It's so heartwarming that everybody is jumping on board and coming up with their own ideas,' she said.
To complement the exhibition, The Mac will host lectures, films and classes on Japanese calligraphy and woodblock print-making, she said.
There also will be a free 'Hokusai Japan Fest' from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday, June 21, at the Mac's Lakeside Pavilion. The day will include a drumming performance by Tsukasa Taiko, Odori Japanese folk dance, musical performances with Japanese instruments, martial arts demonstrations, a Japanese calligraphy demonstration, origami lessons, food vendors and more.
The exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays; 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursdays; 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays; and 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays through Sept. 21. Tickets range in price from $12 to $32. The last ticket will be sold 45 minutes before closing. For more information, go to Hokusai2025.org.