One of our favorite summer traditions is NYC Restaurant Week, running this year from July 20 through August 16. In celebration, Ronin Gallery is pleased to present works from Kunichika’s acclaimed 1878 series Thirty-six Modern Restaurants. These vibrant designs, featuring beauties relaxing in a flower garden, serving a meal, conversing with friends, and gazing out at a winter storm, highlight the popular Tokyo restaurants of the Meiji period.

Kunichika (1835–1900), one of the leading woodblock print artists of the Meiji era, helped usher ukiyo-e into a new age of color printmaking. At his hand, the floating world came to life in rich purples, deep reds, and theatrical compositions. Even as new artistic media gained popularity in Japan, Kunichika championed the genres, subjects, and aesthetics of traditional ukiyo-e within an emerging modern Japan.