Sammlung: By the Light of the Moon: Nighttime in Japanese Prints

Art Institute of Chicago

January 20–April 14, 2024

Whether as a darkened backdrop for action-packed figural scenes or as a dominant presence over unpeopled landscapes, Japanese printmakers have represented nighttime in various ways over the past several centuries.

In the earliest prints shown in this exhibition, figures are the main focus of each image and darkness simply sets the stage. This is true for the mid- to late 18th-century works of Okumura Masanobu and Suzuki Harunobu, where a solid curtain of black appears behind each dramatic scene. By the 19th century, however, landscape prints were often dominated by the night sky—with or without a moon—and townspeople in urban settings or travelers in rural scenes were less prominent.