VICTORIA, BC.- On view at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Landscapes of Edo: Ukiyo-e Prints from the AGGV’s Collection showcases key works from the Gallery’s extensive holdings of Japanese wood block prints, most of which have been donated to the AGGV by local collectors.

The exhibition, on display in the AGGV’s Centennial Gallery until May 27, features iconic prints by two of the most recognizable names of the ukiyo-e tradition, Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849) and Utagawa Ando Hiroshige (1797 -- 1858). These two artists innovated the art form of woodblock prints in the 19th Century.

Hokusai was the first artist to make the landscape of Edo (Tokyo) and its surrounds the main focus of his colour prints. His famous and hugely popular series, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, depicted Japan’s tallest mountain from a range of imaginative view-points. Encouraged by Hokusai’s success, Hiroshige created the series, The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road, which portrayed the landscape along the coastal road between Kyoto and Edo. This series assisted in establishing landscape themes as a major genre in woodblock prints.

The exhibition contains many iconic ukiyo-e prints; one of the highlights is a rare complete set of the ukiyo-e series “Forty-eight Famous Views of Edo” (1860-61) by Hiroshige II. The exhibition explores the importance of lineages in the ukiyo-e tradition, featuring work by Ando Hiroshige’s students, Shigenobu, known as Hiroshige II; and Shigemasa, who assumed the name of Hiroshige III.

Organized in conjunction with the exhibitions, Fiona Tan: Ascent and Quiet Nature: The Woodblock Prints of Walter J Phillips, Landscapes of Edo: Ukiyo-e prints from the AGGV Collection conveys the enduring significance of the landscape in Japanese culture.