Hiroshige

This was a special treat - today Ellen and I trekked out to Pasadena to the Norton Simon Gallery to see the exhibition 'Hiroshige-Visions of Japan'. I'm a big fan of Japanese woodblock prints, and this was a particularly big exhibition - they had the full series of all 55 Stations of the Tokaido (both the landscapes and the second set featuring people!), the 36 Views of Mount Fuji, as well as a beautiful selection of the 100 Views of Edo, and - perhaps most intriguing - a variety of Hiroshige's rarest items. These included images for fans - r

are, since the majority of the prints were cut up and glued onto fans, as intended. There were also other cut-out pages with a variety of images, and then the final room had a selection of his delicate prints of birds and flowers.

I'm a sucker for a complete set, so it was amazing to see the full collections all in one place!

The Norton Simon has a very impressive collection of Eastern and Western Art - including an amazing room that has Picasso, Brancusi, Hepworth, Kandinsky, Klee and several others all in one very beautiful room!