
Ginza Fantasy (One Hundred Views of Tokyo, Message to the 21st Century 東京百景 21世紀へのメッセジ)
by Reika Iwami
- Date:
- 1989-99
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Description
Created between 1989 and 1999 for the collaborative One Hundred Views of Tokyo series subtitled Message to the 21st Century, Ginza Fantasy represents Iwami's interpretation of Tokyo's most famous commercial district. Rather than documenting Ginza's physical appearance through conventional landscape depiction, Iwami filters the neighborhood through her abstract visual language, translating the sensory experience of neon lights, reflective glass facades, and the energy of crowds into a composition that evokes rather than describes. The Ginza subject pushed Iwami beyond her characteristic water and horizon imagery into urban territory, requiring her to find equivalences between the rhythm of waves and the pulse of a commercial streetscape. The "Fantasy" in the title signals the departure from documentary representation toward an imaginative response to place.
More Prints by Reika Iwami
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
Ginza Fantasy (One Hundred Views of Tokyo, Message to the 21st Century 東京百景 21世紀へのメッセジ) was created by Reika Iwami (岩見禮花) in 1989-99.
Ginza Fantasy (One Hundred Views of Tokyo, Message to the 21st Century 東京百景 21世紀へのメッセジ) depicts urban scenes and landscapes, set at Tokyo, Ginza.



