Ueno Zoo, from the series Recollections of Tokyo
- Series:
- Recollections of Tokyo
- Date:
- 1945
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Description
"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.
More Prints by Onchi Koshiro
More Urban Scenes Prints
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
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.