Reader zur Ausstellung

Bursting
with Life
Ukiyoe from the Collections
of Johann Georg Geyger
and Otto Riese
With the rare early ukiyoe prints of the Johann
Georg Geyger Collection and the recently acquired
180 masterworks of the Otto Riese Collection, the
Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt today owns
one of the most precious collections of this great
Japanese art in Europe. The altogether more than
240 works, from the mid-17th century until around
1850, reflect fascinating details of life in Japan at
a time of almost complete seclusion. Glamorous
actors in expressive make-up, tender beauties from
the tea houses, breathtaking land scapes, as travellers
experienced them along the great trade routes
in ancient Japan - all this is depicted in these master
prints that were often not more expensive than
a bowl of noodle soup, and at the same time were
immensely popular among the Japanese of the
Edo Period (1603-1868), a period dominated by an
affluent urban merchant class. The ukiyoe prints
(lit. “images of the floating world”) were designed
by artists, commissioned by clever publishers,
and produced in division of labour, by various specialists.
They often consisted of a multitude of
printing blocks for each single colour. The print run
depended exclusively on the demand - sometimes
only a few dozen sheets were produced, but pop u -
lar motifs may have had print runs of up to around
twenty thousand copies (see cat.no. 211). Print
runs like this of course required numerous
repairs or even replacements of the printing blocks.
Because of the fragility of the prints we will exchange
the display after three months, showing around
fourty prints at a time. The complete collection may
be viewed in the catalogue Heroes of the Stage and
Beauties of the Night, as well as on the website
www.ukipedia.de that includes extensive background
information on each print. This reader presents
selected masterworks of the two collections.