Image: Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
Victoria Art Gallery in Bath will present ‘Japanese Prints: The Floating World and Beyond’, an exhibition drawn from the museum’s collection and focused on the visual culture of 19th-century Japan. The free display will run from 28 July to 18 October 2026 in the gallery’s Upper Gallery, opening daily from 10:30am to 5pm.
The exhibition centres on Japanese woodblock prints depicting celebrated actors, beauties and landscapes. Its title refers to ukiyo-e, commonly translated as “pictures of the floating world”—a term associated with the culture of Edo, now Tokyo. The gallery describes this world as one shaped by theatres, teahouses and fashionable social circles, where beauty, pleasure and the art of living in the moment were central subjects.
Among the works identified for the display is Utagawa Hiroshige’s ‘Inside Kameido Tenjin Shrine’, made between 1856 and 1858. Hiroshige (1797–1858) is represented here through a landscape image that reflects the exhibition’s interest in the range of subjects addressed by Japanese printmakers. The presentation brings together scenes of everyday and cultural life with striking views of place.
The exhibition also examines the movement of Japanese prints into Europe from the mid-19th century. According to the gallery, their bold compositions, flat areas of colour and innovative approaches to perspective influenced European artists and contributed to a significant exchange in printmaking. Works by James McNeill Whistler and Frank Brangwyn are included alongside the Japanese material, allowing visitors to see the relationship between the source prints and European responses to them.
The display forms part of Victoria Art Gallery’s programme of exhibitions and collection presentations. The institution is Bath’s public art museum, with holdings that include paintings, sculpture and decorative arts. Its website describes the City of Bath as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, placing the exhibition within a museum programme based in one of the United Kingdom’s designated historic cities.
Admission to the Upper Gallery presentation is free, although the gallery’s event page also directs visitors to its general exhibition booking information. The Japanese print display follows ‘Norman Ackroyd: The Transience of Light’, which is scheduled at Victoria Art Gallery from 22 May to 6 September 2026, but the two exhibitions are separate programmes. ‘Japanese Prints: The Floating World and Beyond’ will remain on view in Bath through 18 October 2026.
