From Ukiyo-e to Photography

Exploring how the new medium of photography and ukiyo-e, Japan's traditional 'people's art', came to influence each other, this fascinating autumn exhibit at the Edo-Tokyo Museum takes visitors back to the late Edo and early Meiji eras. The introduction of photo technology to Japan during this bakumatsu period resulted in a creative search for new forms of expression, a pursuit that in turn gave birth to hybrid media like photo-based lithographs and painting-photo 'combo art'. Subtitled 'Cultural Awakening in Japan's Visual Field', the exhibit also displays some of the earliest photographs taken by Japanese, including shots by Kuichi Uchida, the first person to photograph Emperor Meiji.