Toyokuni Print

Close to ten million visitors poured into Philadelphia in 1876 to view the international exposition celebrating the nation’s Centennial. The Japanese and Chinese exhibitions were especially popular and spawned an interest in Asian design that lasted for the remainder of the century.

Two woodblock prints were recently donated by a Bowen descendant who recalled them hanging on the walls of this room, where she slept when she visited  her Aunt Constance.  They may well have been part of the redecorating scheme of the 1880s.

This image of a geisha in a dark kimono is by Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825) an artistic master and second head of the Utagawa school of Japanese woodblock artists.