Tattoos in Japanese Prints from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Toyohara Kunichika (Japanese, 1835 - 1900), Actors Ichimura Kakitsu IV as Asahina Tōbei (R), Nakamura Shikan IV as Washi no Chōkichi (C), and Sawamura Tosshō II as Yume no Ichibei (L), Edo period–Meiji era, 1868 (Keiō 4/Meiji 1), intercalary 4th month, woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, William Sturgis Bigelow Collection, 11.41710a-c. Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Friday, October 27, 2023 to Sunday, January 14, 2024
Some of the world’s most popular tattoo motifs trace back to early 19th-century Edo (modern Tokyo), where tattoo artists took inspiration from color woodblock prints known as ukiyo-e. Many of the early tattoo artists were trained as blockcutters, craftsmen who transformed designs drawn on paper into carved wooden blocks for mass-producing prints. In the late 1820s, the artist Kuniyoshi designed a series of prints showing Chinese martial arts heroes with spectacular tattoos that were—and still are—often copied by real-life tattoo artists.
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
• Kie Young | President of Jacksonville Japanese Association & President of Mayor's Asian American Advisory Board
• Wenying Xu | JU Professor of English
• Hiromi Moneyhun | Local Artist
• Chau Kelly | Associate Professor of History & Faculty Coordinator for Asian Studies Program
• Nick Wagner | Tattoo Artist & Owner of Black Hive Tattoo