OEN Editors Catch Some Culture: Phila Museum of Art

The intriguing title of this color woodcut is, The Heian Poet Yasumasa Playing the Flute by Moonlight, Subduing the Bandit Yasusuke with His Music. (1883.)

The museum's commentary notes, "The realistic detail and expressive individuality of the figures, combined with a sense of abstract design, and the psychological tension of the scene, are all hallmarks of Yoshitoshi's mature style, Here, the viewer is left to ponder whether the bandit, poised to strike, will in fact be seduced by the flute player's masterful tune."

Yoshitoshi (1839 1892) was the last great master of the traditional Japanese woodblock print. This exhibition showcases some seventy works from the museum's extraordinary collection of Yoshitoshi prints, the largest repository of his work outside Japan. The exhibition also included prints from Yoshitoshi's series, One Hundred Aspects of the Moon.

Below: OEN Managing Editor Meryl Ann Butler with Charles Willson Peale's famous trompe l'oeil painting, Staircase Group. Stay tuned for Part Two of the visit to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with more on Peale, Colonial America's unsung Leonardo and the father of an American art dynasty.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Philadelphia, PA 19130

The museum is closed on Mondays, and offers "Pay What You Wish" admission on the first Sunday of the month and every Wednesday night.

Watch Rocky Balboa's famous run up the stairs: here.

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