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Kawanabe Ky'sai and the Hell Courtesan
When
- Saturday
- Feb. 11, 2012
Description
Gallery 278A
The first exhibition in our newly renovated Japanese Print gallery focuses on a recent acquisition, a monumental hanging scroll of the Hell Courtesan by Kawanabe Ky'sai (1831-1889). Known for the charm, eccentricity, and extraordinary skill of his work, Ky'sai gleefully satirized the complex political events of 19th-century Japan in both paintings and prints. Following a brief jail term for excessive criticism of the government, he resumed his career with such masterful works as the Hell Courtesan, which relates the story of a famed 15th-century beauty who wore a robe decorated with scenes from the Buddhist Hell. Her religious belief became sincere after she observed the eccentric Zen monk Ikkyū engaged in a lively dance with a retinue of skeletons. In Ky'sai's personalized version of the story, traditional images of sin and suffering on the courtesan's outer robe are replaced by cheerful scenes of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune distributing blessings.
The first exhibition in our newly renovated Japanese Print gallery focuses on a recent acquisition, a monumental hanging scroll of the Hell Courtesan by Kawanabe Ky'sai (1831-1889). Known for the charm, eccentricity, and extraordinary skill of his work, Ky'sai gleefully satirized the complex political events of 19th-century Japan in both paintings and prints. Following a brief jail term for excessive criticism of the government, he resumed his career with such masterful works as the Hell Courtesan, which relates the story of a famed 15th-century beauty who wore a robe decorated with scenes from the Buddhist Hell. Her religious belief became sincere after she observed the eccentric Zen monk Ikkyū engaged in a lively dance with a retinue of skeletons. In Ky'sai's personalized version of the story, traditional images of sin and suffering on the courtesan's outer robe are replaced by cheerful scenes of the Seven Gods of Good Fortune distributing blessings.
Images
Phone
800-440-6975
webticketing@mfa.org
Where
Elsewhere
| Saturday May. 26, 2012 |
@Museum of Fine Arts Boston |
| Sunday May. 27, 2012 |
@Museum of Fine Arts Boston |
| Monday May. 28, 2012 |
@Museum of Fine Arts Boston |
| Tuesday May. 29, 2012 |
@Museum of Fine Arts Boston |
| Wednesday May. 30, 2012 |
@Museum of Fine Arts Boston |
Tags
art , gallery , attraction
