Apollo Magazine

Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art

More than 250 works at the Met testify to millennia-old concerns about death and the afterlife

Revenge of the Taira Warriors (detail; c. 1843–47), Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

More than 250 works, drawn mostly from the Met’s collection, testify to human anxiety in the form of religious sculpture, ritual objects and more modern works (8 April–14 July). Early Japanese sacred objects demonstrate concerns about death and the afterlife; medieval Buddhist images present visions of paradise and hell; 19th- and 20th-century prints, garments and photographs reveal the ongoing role of anxiety and hope in the Japanese imagination. Highlights include the earliest illustrated version of the 25th chapter of the Lotus Sutra (c. 1257) and a newly acquired work by Bodhidharma in Red Robes (late 15th century) by Kano Masanobu, chief painter of the Ashikagu shogunate. Find out more on the Met’s website.

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Bodhidharma in Red Robes (late 15th century), Kano Masanobu. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Cherry Blossom Viewing at Itsukushima and Yoshino (early 17th century), Japan. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

 

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