Wanderlust: Hiroshige’s Journey Through the 60-odd Provinces
Ronin Gallery | 2023
Ronin Gallery presented all 69 designs from Hiroshige Utagawa’s woodblock print series Famous Places in the 60-odd Provinces (Rokujūyoshū meisho zue, 1853-1856) in March 2023. This complete set offered an opportunity to introduce patrons to the concept of meisho-e (famous place pictures) as well as the specific social and political factors that propelled the genre to the height of popularity during the mid-19th century. As the catalog essay situated the reader within this cultural moment, the captions that accompanied all 69 prints invited the reader to learn about the special goods, trades, and natural wonders of Japan’s provinces at that time. In addition to the catalog, we produced a map so that visitors could connect geographical bearings to the images on the wall.
