This afternoon, on the occasion of the 2021 International Museum Day, the Floating World of Lives: 100 Sets of Art Treasure of Ukiyo-e Exhibition opened in World Expo Museum.

First visit to China Ukiyo-e cultural relic level ancient painting

　　The exhibition focuses on the Ukiyo-e cultural relics of the Edo and Meiji periods in Japan. The more than 100 sets of works on display are all from the Asai family, one of the three private collection families of Ukiyo-e in Japan.

　　The exhibition had four sections:"City","Season","Entertainment", and "Faith", depicting the life of citizens, mountains and rivers, dramatic characters, and folklore in Japan during the Edo period. Fully presented the wonderful charm of Ukiyo-e, a representative art form and cultural symbol of Japan.

　　Apart from Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and other related masterpieces well-known to Chinese audiences, some works are exhibited in China for the first time. Seventy percent of the works in the exhibit are large triptych paintings with rich historical background content.

　　Regardless of the composition of the painter or the content of the paintings, the exhibition has constructed a relatively more complete exhibition system, and this completeness is closer to displaying the true floating world in history. More importantly, the exhibition returns art to the humanities, and explores why Ukiyo-e works, which are citizens' art, will be dubbed the "Encyclopedia of the Edo Period" by later generations.

　　The exhibition specifically selects works related to Chinese culture. For example, paintings depicting the custom of "five-section sentences" can see many Chinese cultural elements, reflecting the long history of exchanges between China and Japan. A series of activities will be held in the follow-up to the exhibition, and the audience can gain a deeper understanding of the "The Floating World of Lives" world by participating in the activities.

North Hall Interactive Area

Guests visit the exhibition

　　Artistic Interpretation from the Perspective of World Expo

　　Taking advantage of Japan’s participation in the Paris World Expo in 1867 and the Vienna World Expo in 1873, Ukiyo-e entered the European public’s vision and had a significant impact on the European art world. It also absorbed foreign cultures and enriched the cosmopolitanness of its narrative expression, and played a unique role in the spread and exchange of Eastern and Western cultures and mutual promotion of common prosperity.

　　Audiences can see the Chinese musical instruments in Ukiyo-e's works, as well as the later works that have had a significant impact on Europe. Thanks to this exhibition, the three characteristic dimensions of the World Expo Museum’s exhibition system are ingeniously integrated, with the help ofThe Floating World of Lives Exhibition: viewing city life, viewing the world, and appreciating the essence of the Expo.

　　"Dynamic Version of Ukiyo-e"

　　In addition to exhibiting hundreds of treasures, the World Expo Museum also created "Dynamic Version of Ukiyo-e" with teachers and students of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, combining contemporary aesthetic interest, social customs and hot elements, and selected Kitagawa Utamaro, Suzuki Harunobu, Torii Kiyonaga, Toshusai Sharaku, Utagawa Hiroshige, etc., young audiences will have a different and interesting experience. In the inter-generational integration of art, we will strive to be a messenger of cultural exchanges between China and Japan, and provide a stage for the Chinese young generation.

Opening ceremony

　　Hong Hao, Chairman of the World Expo Museum Council, Zhao Gushan, Deputy Director of the China Cultural Relic Exchange Center, Oku Masashi, Deputy Council General of Japan in Shanghai, and Liu Xiuhua, Director of the World Expo Museum

Speech by Zhao Gushan, Deputy Director of China Cultural Relics Exchange Center

　　Zhao Gushan, deputy director of the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center, said that 2021 is the 50th year of the establishment of the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center. While leading Chinese culture to go out, the center also actively introduces excellent foreign cultural exhibitions, and cooperates with domestic cultural and cultural institutions to serve China. The audience brings a richer, diversified, novel and broad cultural experience. In the process of preparing for this project, the center and the World Expo Museum have established a profound friendship, which is believed to be an important beginning for future cooperation between the two sides.

Speech by Liu Xiuhua, Director of World Expo Museum

　　Liu Xiuhua, director of the World Expo Museum, said that Ukiyo-e still shows strong artistic vitality today. We will warm up the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan in 2022 and the Osaka World Expo in Japan in 2025 by this exhibition, and give full play to the platform function of the Museum's civil diplomacy.

　　As early as 2019, the World Expo Museum started the preparations for the Ukiyo-e exhibition. The original plan was to hold the exhibition at the end of 2020, and the “Prints Across Generations—Printmaking Art and Expo Printmaking Works Exhibition" was held in advance in mid-2020 for Ukiyo-e Exhibition preheating. However, due to the impact of the Covid -19, after many tests, the final exhibition was postponed for one year.

Yu Zhenyu, deputy curator of the World Expo Museum, host opening ceremony

Video speech by Mr. Asai Shu

　　the fourth-generation of Asai Collection

　　The World Expo Museum and China Cultural Relics Exchange Center issued letters of appreciation and participation certificates to partner institutions

　　The World Expo Museum and the China Cultural Relics Exchange Center issued the "Ukiyo Experience Officer" certificate to the cooperative enterprises

　　At the opening event, the World Expo Museum and the China Cultural Relic Exchange Center issued letters of appreciation and letters to three partner institutions, the Central Academy of Fine Arts (Sino-French) School of Art and Design Management, the Central Academy of Fine Arts School of Urban Design, and Shanghai’s Huangpu District Zhonghua Road No. 3 Primary School. Participation certificate; awarded the "Ukiyo Experience Officer" certificate to the cooperative enterprise "Red".

Curator Sun Yi explained the exhibition to the guests

　　Ukiyoe

　　Ukiyo-e emerged in the Edo period (1603-1867, also known as the Tokugawa Bakufu period) in Japan. It is a type of art mainly based on prints, and its literal translation is "paintings of the imaginary world". It takes secular life as the main object of expression and reflects the cultural and aesthetic trends of ordinary people. As a popular art in Japan, Ukiyo-e has been widely favored by people from all over the world since the time of European Impressionists such as Monet and Van Gogh.

　　"Kunari of Soma" Utagawa Kuniyoshi

　　The theme of International Museum Day in 2021 is "Recover and Reimagine", and "The Floating World of Lives: 100 Sets of Art Treasure of Ukiyo-e Exhibition " is the first exhibition to exhibit the magical gods and ghosts in Japanese folklore, as well as the gods and soldiers who defeat the disease The story of monsters that restore the health of the people. In the context of the global impact of the covid-19, the curator hopes to express his hope for a healthy life and a peaceful world through these contents. It is also an echoing interpretation of the theme of this year's International Museum Day "Recover and Reimagine".

　　The Floating World of Lives: 100 Sets of Art Treasure of Ukiyo-e

　　Curator: Sun Yi

　　Ticket: free

　　Exhibition period: May 18 to August 8, 2021

　　Address: No. 1 Temporary Exhibition Hall, World Expo Museum