"Ueno Zoo," from the 1945 "Recollections of Tokyo" series, depicts one of Tokyo's most beloved institutions in the last year of the Pacific War — a year during which the zoo's animals were actually killed to prevent their escape in the event of bombing. Onchi's depiction of the zoo in this context carries a particular pathos: the ordinary pleasures of civilian life (a trip to the zoo) rendered with the knowledge that those pleasures were being destroyed. The series' memorial quality is most poignant in subjects like this one, where familiar innocence confronts catastrophic historical reality.
Woodblock print
1928
Color lithograph
1930
Color lithograph
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Ueno Zoo, from the series Recollections of Tokyo was created by Onchi Koshiro (恩地孝四郎) in 1945.
Yes — Ueno Zoo, from the series Recollections of Tokyo is part of the Recollections of Tokyo series by Onchi Koshiro.
Ueno Zoo, from the series Recollections of Tokyo depicts urban scenes, set at Tokyo, Ueno.
