The Art Institute presents an exhibition of Japanese prints by a mysterious 18th century Japanese artist whose identity is debated but whose output was remarkable for its innovation and imagination. Masterworks of Japanese Prints: Toshusai Sharaku.

Sharaku’s earliest work consisted of 28 bust portraits of actors who appeared in the Kabuki plays presented at the three principal Edo (Tokyo) theaters starting in the fifth month of 1794. He produced about 150 designs in a 10-month period between the summer of 1794 and the early spring of 1795. Before and after this period, an artist by this name is unknown, and therefore, Sharaku’s identity has been a matter of much debate. The Art Institute has one of the best museum collections of Sharaku’s work in the world thanks to the early efforts of collectors Clarence and Kate Buckingham. Most of the prints in this exhibition entered the museum between 1925 and 1934 as gifts from the Buckinghams.

The Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60603

This long-term installation offers the museum’s first presentation of work from the viceregal period. Fourteen paintings and related works on paper—including pieces from the collection of Chicagoans Marilynn and Carl Thoma never before displayed in a museum, as well as important loans from the Newberry Library and Denver Art Museum—introduce visitors to explorers, artists, and patrons who lived in the Spanish-governed Andes during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.

The metaphorical guide of this journey is Antonio de Ulloa (1716–95), a Spanish naval officer and cartographer who traveled to South America with a French scientific mission in the 1730s and 1740s. His portrait introduces the group of works assembled—paintings of identified sitters, signal works by important South American artists, and devotional paintings that include historical figures. Each work has its own direct link to individual biography and lived experience in the New World, offering a more personal look at the themes of exploration and discovery and bringing to life the culture and artistic production in South America as European conventions combined with indigenous traditions.

Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 24
Mozart Requiem

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti. conductor
Rudolf Buchbinder, piano

Giacomo Puccini: Tosca
In Italian with projected English texts
New Production

Cast:

Tosca: Tatiana Serjan (Jan 24 – Feb 5)
Tosca: Hui He (Feb 27 – Mar 14)

Cavaradossi: Brian Jagde (Jan 24 – Feb 5)
Cavaradossi: Jorge de Leon (Feb 27 – Mar 14)

Scarpia: Evgeny Nikitin (Jan 24 – Feb 5)
Scarpia: Mark Delavan (Feb 27 – Mar 140