EXHIBIT OF JAPANESE ENQRAVINQS 



Through the kindness of Miss Anne H. Dyer of New Or- 

 leans, the Art DepartmeHt of the Museum has been enabled 

 to make a special exhibit of Japanese prints. Among them 

 were a number of triptychs. Perhaps the most striking— 

 though certainly not the finest— was by Hiroshigi represent- 

 ing the "Girls Annual Procession." The peculiarity of this 

 print lay in the fact that the three pieces, composing it, were 

 joined not in the usual way, at the sides, but at the ends. 

 The result was a long narrow frieze, ten inches high by more 

 than forty in length. Of the finer triptychs, one by Yeizan 

 deserves especial notice. It is more distinctive, less deriva- 

 tive, than is most of the work of that talented but too facile 

 master who seems, generally, to have been unable to refrain 

 from imitating the last fine thing he had seen. Two triptychs 

 from the vigorous hand of Toyokuni are especially fine. One 

 of these, in a fine chord of autumnal color beautifully diver- 

 sified by the black robes of its women, comes near Toyokuni's 

 high water mark— which, we must all admit, in spite of the 

 depths into which he sometimes fell, was gloriously high. A 

 very remarkable triptych, by Hiroshigi, deals with the famous 

 whirlpool of Naruto. This picture shows a marvellous sense 

 of space and light over sunlit sea, of distance dim with lustre, 

 and far mountains shining like opals out of a haze of bright- 

 ness. 



However, remarkable as are the triple prints, the strength 

 of the collection is undoubtedly in its single-sheet Hiroshigi's. 

 Among these is that one which is generally ranked first among 

 all his single-sheet designs— the "Shono" print of the great 

 series illustrating the Tokaido road. In this print the tree 

 tops of a bamboo grove, smitten suddenly by a rain-storm, 

 are made to compose upon the face of a piece of paper with 

 such magical effect that the beholder is made aware, as by 

 the dropping of a mask, of what unspeakable wonders of 



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