Viewing Tokyo: Art and Photography, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

The Ashmolean’s major summer blockbuster looks at the art and photography made in Tokyo from the 1600s to the modern day, while charting the city’s evolution from a small village known as Edo to the sprawling metropolis of the 21st century. A vibrant celebration of one of the world’s most creative and innovative cities, it brings together an exceptional range of artwork, from a 17th-century ink sketch to a recently commissioned immersive installation.

As you meander around the galleries, you’ll encounter dazzling prints from Utagawa Hiroshige’s One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856–9), which show the city’s beauty spots through the seasons, as well as an astonishing array of works depicting the devastating impact on the city of natural disasters including floods, earthquakes and typhoons.

Elsewhere, Pop paintings by Takashi Murakami are shown alongside painted scrolls, cherry blossom prints and provocative pieces depicting Tokyo’s clubbing and sex culture. Also on display are the experimental works of Aida Makoto, who links traditional painting techniques with contemporary manga styles to illustrate contemporary issues in Japanese society. This exhibition offers a captivating insight into the rich and diverse artistic output of a fascinating city.