In the mid-19th century Currier & Ives began creating prints of scenes from American life. The firm became legendary, especially their winter scenes, which have become iconic of the Christmas season.
At the same time, unbeknownst to Currier & Ives, Japanese printmakers also were having a heyday creating scenes from Japanese life. These printers’ winter imagery also has become iconic, but not of Christmas, since Christianity has never been a dominant cultural force in Japan.
The Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts in Springfield, Mass., is having some alternative fun this holiday season. Its exhibit “Let it Snow” gives the museum the opportunity to show off 65 of the 1,700 Japanese woodblock prints in its Raymond Bidwell Collection.
“When I visit museums in Japan, they know our collection. I always get a bow,” said Julia Courtney, the art curator at the museum, which is part of the Springfield Museums complex. “They are light-sensitive, so we don’t exhibit them often.” The lighting in the gallery is low, and some items are covered with felt, which must be lifted to view the piece.
The D’Amour does, however, give Christmas its due, by pairing the Japanese prints with a display of 75 snow globes, ranging from cheesy plastic advertising kitsch to well-designed glass sculptures.
The two items have something in common: Japanese prints and snow globes were mass-produced reflections of their respective popular cultures. “People didn’t consider them high art, but today they are very collectible,” Courtney said.
Surprisingly, the popular culture that originated the snow globe wasn’t America’s. The first souvenir snow globes were produced by the Paris Exposition of 1889, and had little replicas of the brand-new Eiffel Tower inside. “People were terrified that the Eiffel Tower would fall down because it was so tall,” Courtney said. “The snow globes were made to make people embrace the tower.” But American culture took the snow globe idea and ran with it. Most of the globes in the exhibit are American-made.
The elegant show of Japanese woodblock prints is divided in four parts, what Courtney calls “pretty snow,” “Noh theater,” “battles” and “geishas and warriors.” They illustrated the particularly Japanese notion of the “floating world,” beautiful images of actors, soldiers, concubines, emperors and pretty scenery.
“A Courtesan Stops to Have Her Geta Adjusted,” illustrates a woman in an elaborate purple kimono surrounded by servants and dogs. “Loyal Ronin Act XI” features dozen of angry warriors surrounding a severed head. “The Buddhist Monk Nichiren in the Snow at Tsukarara” shows a bare-legged holy man struggling up a hill. “Feeding Ducks in the Winter,” a triptych, features three geishas floating in a boat, cooing over the birds.
The snow globe exhibit is silly and fun. A case of advertising snow globes — “Spam Hits the Spot!” — sits in the corridor across from beautiful globes illustrating chapters from the “Harry Potter” books. A display case is devoted to Disney snow globes, with Cinderella, Ariel, Pooh, Mickey and 101 Dalmatians, and another is full of snow globes that celebrate holidays other than Christmas: Halloween, Fourth of July, Easter, Valentine’s Day. Travel-oriented snow globes were made for Carlsbad Caverns, Mount Rushmore, Maine, with little lobsters inside, and Rome, with a little pope inside.
The prettiest globes are elaborate ones celebrating the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and a simple one, with a carved white owl inside and a base made of bark, which didn’t advertise anything.
Another holiday-themed exhibit, “Adventures in Gingerbread,” opens on Nov. 28 in the Springfield Science Museum, which also is in the Springfield Museums complex.
“LET IT SNOW: WINTER SCENES IN SNOW GLOBES AND JAPANESE PRINTS” will be at the Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts in the Springfield Museums complex, 21 Edwards St. in Springfield, Mass., until Jan. 4. Hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Details: www.springfieldmuseums.org.
