The Cleve Carney Museum of Art (CCMA) and McAninch Art Center, (MAC)l located on at the College of DuPage (COD), 425 Fawell Blvd., today announced the next major summer art exhibition coming in 2025: “Hokusai and Ukiyo-e: The Floating World, Artworks from the Chiossone Collection.” The exhibition will feature about 50 original works by renowned artists from the Japanese Edo Period, along with several educational and interactive experiences and installations throughout the MAC. The exhibition is organized by the Cleve Carney Museum of Art in collaboration with The Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art of Genoa, and with the support of MondoMostre.
The “Hokusai and Ukiyo-e: The Floating World” exhibition showcases about 50 original artworks by masters of Japan’s Edo Period (1603-1868). Works by acclaimed artists Hokusai and Hiroshige provide a window into life during a time when the City of Edo (present-day Tokyo) thrived as the center of Japan’s economy and culture.
Katsushika Hokusai :"The Great Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura)," from the series "Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji" (Fugaku sanjurokkei); polychrome woodblock print (Nishikie), circa 1830-1832: Photo courtesy of the Chiossone Collection
Featured artwork includes ten works by Hokusai, including “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” from the series “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji,” and 17 works by Hiroshige, known for his traditional woodblock prints, along with works by 15 of their contemporaries. The collection includes hand-painted hanging scrolls in paper and silk as well as elegant and detailed multi-colored woodblock prints as beautiful as brocade as their name nishiki-e indicates. The selection is enriched by the presentation of original and refined art and craft objects in dialogue with the paintings and prints that often are representing them and their common use.
The opulent works are quintessential representations of the Japanese art form known as “Ukiyo-e,” or “floating world images,” in which artists depict an idealized world of grandeur, class, wit, style, and pleasure, created during a period when Japan was limiting international relationships to one port that is Nagasaki, offering a unique point of view. The scrolls, prints and fans created during this time brought international notoriety to Japan giving birth to the Japanism trend. When Japan did open its borders, these pieces fascinated and influenced the world’s artists including impressionists such as Monet and Degas and later Van Gogh.
“Art at this time was very intimate and often used as entertainment for home gathering, with themes of performing arts, courtly life, nature, and the vibrant urban culture of Edo,” said CCMA Curator Justin Witte. “Now 200 years later, the striking and graphic style of these images still feels fresh and innovative, inspiring contemporary artists such as Takashi Murakami and Hayao Miyazaki, as well as creators of manga and anime.”
In addition to the artwork, the exhibition will include: a historical area and timeline with multi-media elements; an outdoor Japanese garden; a children’s Edo art & anime area with coloring pages and activities; an interactive Edo Experience with Shogun and Kabuki garments and more.
“As with past major exhibitions, including ‘Frida Kahlo: Timeless’ and ‘WARHOL,’ the creative teams and designers of McAninch Arts Center will create interactive exhibition experiences that help visitors connect with this enchanting era of Shoguns, Samurai and Geisha, that are rich educational experiences and special events that enhance understanding and appreciation of the Japanese Edo era,” said MAC Director and Exhibition Executive Director Diana Martinez.
The exhibition is organized by the Cleve Carney Museum of Art, with works from the The Edoardo Chiossone Museum of Oriental Art that was originally collected by Edoardo Chiossone (1833-1898) and whose collection is known worldwide for the quality of art and its remarkable state of conservation. The featured Ukiyo-e collection on loan will be curated by Professor and art historian Rossella Menegazzo of The University of Milan as part of the larger exhibition at the MAC and CCMA, curated by Justin Witte.
Tickets for “Hokusai and Ukiyo-e: The Floating World” will be available this fall. More information about this exhibition will be announced at a later date.
About the Museo d’Arte Orientale E. Chiossone of Genoa
Founded in 1905, the Museum is named after Edoardo Chiossone. Skilled Genoese engraver who lived and worked in Japan at the end of the 19th century, Chiossone is known throughout the world for having designed the first Japanese banknotes and securities. The Museum, in the city center and facing the sea, was the first museum dedicated to Japanese art to be founded in Italy, and houses the largest, most precious and most varied collection of Japanese art in Italy and one of the most important in Europe, donated to the city of Genoa by Chiossone himself.
About MondoMostre
MondoMostre is the world's leading producer of exhibitions. Founded in Italy in 1999, it has successfully delivered critically acclaimed exhibitions for many of the most recognized museums internationally. As thought leaders at the forefront of cultural discourse, it offers unique insight and a distinct perspective that is helping to shape the future of the cultural sector. Through its exhibitions, it seeks to inspire audiences globally by making great works of art accessible to more people. MondoMostre champions the power of arts and culture to educate, build knowledge and reflect its shared humanity.
About the Cleve Carney Museum of Art
The late Cleve Carney provided a significant legacy gift to establish the Cleve Carney Art Gallery at College of DuPage. The gallery opened in February 2014 with its inaugural exhibition, “Selections from Cleve Carney’s Art Collection.” In fall 2019, the gallery was expanded to a 2,500 square-foot museum. The Cleve Carney Museum of Art opened June 2021 with the highly anticipated “Frida Kahlo: Timeless” exhibition followed it up in summer 2023 with “Warhol.” Funding for CCMA is provided by the Cleve Carney Endowment Fund, which supports vital programming including artist engagement opportunities for community members and students, gallery exhibitions, artist commissions, new acquisitions and other teaching and learning tools that foster cultural enrichment in our community. More information can be found at TheCCMA.org and on social media @CleveCarneyMuseumofArt.
About the MAC
McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage is located 25 miles west of Chicago near I-88 and I-355. It houses three indoor performance spaces (780-seat proscenium Belushi Performance Hall; 186-seat soft-thrust Playhouse Theatre; and a versatile black box Studio Theatre), outdoor Lakeside Pavilion, plus the Cleve Carney Museum of Art and classrooms for the college’s academic programming. The MAC has presented theater, music, dance and visual art to more than 1.5 million people since its opening in 1986 and typically welcomes more than 100,000 patrons from the greater Chicago area to more than 230 performances each season. For more information about the MAC, visit www.AtTheMAC.org or @AtTheMAC on Facebook and Instagram.