Zhu Shouchang

Utagawa Kuniyoshi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The preparatory drawing for a print is usually pasted on a woodblock and cut along the lines of the drawing. This surviving preparatory drawing, which was apparently not used, is extremely rare. Kuniyoshi combined old-fashioned didacticism with an atmosphere of exoticism and novelty by exploring Western pictorial techniques and characterizations, about which the general public of his time had great curiosity. Zhu Shouchang (J.: Shu Jushō) searched and found his mother, who had disappeared during his early youth, after a separation of more than fifty years.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art