January • February • March  • April • May • June • July • August • September • October • November • December

The following is an archive of past Japanese Art Society of America lectures and special events. Go to JASA-Sponsored Events for our most current schedule.

January

Tuesday, January 11, 5 p.m. EST
The Japanese Buddhist World Map: Religious Vision and the Cartographic Imagination

During this Zoom webinar, Professor Max Moerman will present a talk on the specialized subject of maps in Japanese Buddhism. From at least the 14th through the late 19th century, Japanese monks have created and used maps to construct, represent, and find their place in a Buddhist world. Such maps provide a spatial history of religious thought, inform intellectual orientation and cultural identity, and reveal the centrality of India in the Japanese Buddhist imagination. The Japanese Buddhist World Map: Religious Vision and the Cartographic Imagination (University of Hawaii, December 31, 2021) is the first book to introduce and analyze this unknown archive of Japanese Buddhist maps of the world. In analyzing the history of these maps, and of their production, reproduction, and reception, this study argues for an alternative history of Japanese Buddhism through sources of visual and material culture. This presentation will explore how these special maps contribute to a new picture of Japanese Buddhism.

Webinar posted: View the lecture  The Japanese Buddhist World Map: Religious Vision and the Cartographic Imagination with Professor Max Moerman.

February

Wednesday, February 9, 5 p.m. EST
Avant-Garde Calligraphy and Zen between Postwar Japan, Europe, and the United States

During this Zoom webinar, Dr. Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer will present on postwar Japanese calligraphy. Based on her recent book Bokujinkai: Japanese Calligraphy and the Postwar Avant-Garde, this talk will introduce the Kyoto-based avant-garde calligraphy group named Bokujinkai, and explore their international trajectories. Bokujinkai—or “People of the Ink”—was a group formed in 1952 by five calligraphers: Morita Shiryū, Inoue Yūichi, Eguchi Sōgen, Nakamura Bokushi and Sekiya Yoshimichi. In the early postwar years, avant-garde calligraphers from Japan radically transformed their art with the aim of bringing calligraphy to the same level of recognition as abstract painting. In order to reach this goal, they launched creative collaborations with European Art Informel artists and American Abstract Expressionists, and soon started sharing exhibition spaces with them at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Documenta in Kassel, São Paulo Biennale and Carnegie International.

During this talk, Dr. Bogdanova-Kummer will examine the role that the postwar global Zen movement played in shaping the success of Japanese calligraphy abroad and will present their collaborations as one of the most fascinating examples of the early postwar global art exchanges.

Webinar posted: View the lecture Avant-Garde Calligraphy and Zen between Postwar Japan, Europe, and the United States with Dr. Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer.

March

Sunday, March 20, 11 a.m. EST

Japan Society
333 E. 47 St.
New York, NY

Annual JASA meeting, and the lecture Reflections of a Collector: George Mann

In celebration of Asia Week New York 2022, JASA will hold its 2022 annual meeting in person at the Japan Society auditorium, with keynote address by the well-known ukiyo-e collector George Mann, who will speak about extraordinary prints and legendary figures in the Japanese print world. Following this special lecture, the annual meeting will take place, conducted by President Wilson Grabill and other Board Members.

Please plan to arrive at least 30 minutes in advance for check-in. Covid-19 protocols will be observed. If you are not able to attend the events in person, the lecture and business meeting will be available for viewing live on our Zoom webinar platform that we use for our lectures.

Webinar posted: View the lecture Reflections of a Collector, with renowned Chicago print collector George Mann.

April

Thursday, April 28, 5 p.m. EDT
Samurai Splendor: Sword Fittings from Edo Japan

During this Zoom webinar, Markus Sesko, Associate Curator of Asian Arms and Armor at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will introduce the museum’s extensive Japanese arms and armor collection  and discuss the newly opened exhibition Samurai Splendor: Sword Fittings from Edo Japan. This exhibition explores the luxurious aspect of Edo-period sword fashion, a fascinating area of Japanese arms and armor rarely featured in exhibitions outside of Japan. It presents a selection of exquisite sword mountings, fittings and related objects, including sword-fittings makers’ sketchbooks, all drawn from The Met collection and many rarely or never been exhibited.

After almost a century and a half of near-constant civil war and political upheaval, Japan unified under the Tokugawa in the early 1600s. The Tokugawa regime brought economic growth, prolonged peace and widespread enjoyment of arts and culture. Their administration also imposed strict class separation and rigid regulations for the population. As a result, the Samurai ruling class had only a few ways to display personal taste in public. Fittings and accessories for their swords, which were indispensable symbols of power and authority, became a critical means of self-expression and a focal point of artistic creation.

Webinar posted: View the lecture Samurai Splendor.

May

Tuesday, May 10, 5 p.m. EDT
Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists

This Zoom webinar, a talk with Alice North and Louise Allison Cort, will present a new book Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists, by Alice North, Halsey North and Louise Allison Cort. This is the first book to tell the stories of 16 revered Japanese ceramic artists in their own words. These celebrated artists with unparalleled skill and creative brilliance range in age from 94 to 64. They embody the diverse experiences of several generations who have been active and successful from the late 1940s to the present day, a period of massive change. Now, sharing their stories for the first time in this groundbreaking volume, they not only describe their unique processes, inspirations, and relationships with clay, but together trace a seismic cultural shift through a field in which centuries-old but exclusionary potting traditions opened to new practitioners and kinds of practices.

Significantly, the book includes conversations with artists born into pottery-making families and with the first women admitted to the Ceramics Department at Tokyo University of the Arts. In the process, Listening to Clay tells a larger story about ingenuity and trailblazing that has shaped contemporary ceramics in Japan and around the world. During the webinar, Alice and Louise will describe how the book evolved through multiple visits with the artists. As strong rapport developed over many years of comfortable friendships, the artists described their creative intentions and probed the meanings of “listening to clay.”

Webinar posted: View the lecture Listening to Clay.

June

Tuesday, June 28, 3 p.m. EDT

Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10028

Met Exhibition In-Person Tour: Kimono Style

We are pleased to invite members to join a special private tour of the new exhibition Kimono Style: The John C. Weber Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with Monika Bincsik, Diane and Arthur Abbey Associate Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. This is our first in-person exhibition tour, graciously offered by Dr. Bincsik, who will share her curatorial perspectives on the transformation of the kimono from the late Edo period (1615–1868) through the early 20th century, as the T-shaped garment was adapted to suit the lifestyle of modern Japanese women. The exhibition features a selection of remarkable works from the renowned John C. Weber Collection of Japanese art and explores the mutual artistic exchanges between the kimono and Western fashion, supplemented with highlights from The Costume Institute’s collection.

July

Wednesday, July 6, 3 p.m. CDT

Wrightwood 659
659 W. Wrightwood Ave.
Chicago, IL

Private tour: Moga: Modern Women & Daughters in 1930s Japan

Moga: Modern Women & Daughters in 1930s Japan, featuring an intimate selection of Japanese paintings drawn from the collection of JASA members Naomi Pollock and David Sneider, is on exhibit for the first time in the United States. David Sneider has graciously agreed to join JASA’s private group tour of the exhibition.

Thursday, July 14. 2–3 p.m. EDT

National Museum of Asian Art
1050 Independence Ave. SW
Washington, DC

Private Washington, DC, Tour: Mind over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan

Dr. Frank Feltens will give JASA members a tour of this eagerly anticipated exhibition, which is accompanied by a publication co-edited by Frank Feltens and Yukio Lippit. To purchase the catalogue, click here. Mind over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan is on view at the museum until July 24. For a review of the exhibition, click here: New York Times.

Note: Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Group size is limited to 25. If you would like to attend, please register by clicking  Mind over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan. Please sign up by July 10. There is no fee for this visit. Please contact Cheryl Gall, Membership Coordinator, at jasa@japaneseartsoc.org or (978) 600-8128 with any questions.

In addition, Underdogs and Antiheroes: Japanese Prints from the Moskowitz Collection is on view at the National Museum of Asian Art until January 29, 2023. This exhibit focuses on the captivating stories and urban legends of individuals living on the fringes of society in early modern Japan. JASA members Pearl and Seymour Moskowitz’s transformative gift explores new thematic ground, further expanding the museum’s role in reconsidering presentations of Asian cultures.

Thursday, July 21, 2 p.m. CDT

Minneapolis Institute of Art
2400 3rd Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN

Private tour: Dressed by Nature: Textiles of Japan

A private JASA tour of the exhibition Dressed by Nature: Textiles of Japan will be conducted by  Dr. Andreas Marks, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art and Director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art.

In conjunction with this exhibition, on display June 25 to September 11, The Minneapolis Institute of Art will also be presenting monthly lectures about Japanese textiles:

Accounting for Taste: On the Collecting of Textiles from Japan
Sunday, June 26,  2 p.m. CDT

Panel Talk: The Ainu of Northern Japan: Their Unique Textile Tradition
Thursday, July 21

Japanese Textiles: Traditional Dyes and Conservation Methods
Thursday, Aug 18

August

Wednesday, August 24, 5 p.m. EDT
Zoom Webinar: Kimono Style

For those members who could not participate in our June 28 in-person tour of the exhibition Kimono Style: The John C. Weber Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, we offer this Zoom webinar with Monika Bincsik, Diane and Arthur Abbey Associate Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Dr. Bincsik will share her curatorial perspectives on the transformation of the kimono from the late Edo period (1615–1868) through the early 20th century, as the T-shaped garment was adapted to suit the lifestyle of modern Japanese women. The exhibition features a selection of remarkable works from the renowned John C. Weber Collection of Japanese art and explores the mutual artistic exchanges between the kimono and Western fashion, supplemented with highlights from The Costume Institute’s collection.

Webinar posted: View the video for Kimono Style: The John C. Weber Collection, with Monika Bincsik of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

September

Thursday, September 29, 5 p.m. EDT
Zoom Webinar: Postwar Japanese Photography from 1945–1980

In this Zoom Webinar, Maggie Mustard, PhD, will present a history of postwar Japanese photography from 1945 to 1980, focusing on the major themes and practitioners at the heart of the media’s development following the end of the Second World War. Dr. Mustard will introduce the central questions that photographers were asking in the immediate postwar moment—what does “realism” mean for a photograph? Should a photographer strive to be objective or subjective in their work? What social or political purpose can photography serve?—and discuss the subsequent radical experimentation of the 1960s and 1970s, amidst Japan’s rapid economic transformation and social unrest. This talk will focus primarily on three photographers from each postwar decade—Domon Ken, Kawada Kikuji and Nakahira Takuma—but will also discuss the work of Tōmatsu Shōmei, Ishiuchi Miyako, Narahara Ikkō, Hosoe Eikoh, Naitō Masatoshi and Moriyama Daidō, among others, who may be more familiar to American audiences.

Maggie Mustard is an art historian, museum educator, and curator. She earned her PhD in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University, where her dissertation focused on questions of memory, trauma, and representation in the work of Japanese postwar photographer Kawada Kikuji. As the Marcia Tucker Senior Research Fellow at the New Museum, she designed and organized exhibition-related public programming, and created a digital publication series activating the museum’s institutional archive. She was Chief Curatorial Advisor for the exhibition “The Incomplete Araki: Sex, Life, and Death in the Works of Nobuyoshi Araki” (Museum of Sex, NY, February 8, 2018–September 3, 2018), and her work on issues of gender, power, and curatorial ethics in Araki’s photography will be included in an upcoming edited volume on Heisei-era photography. She has recently been appointed Visiting Assistant Professor at Wesleyan University’s Art and Art History Department beginning in the fall of 2022.

October

Saturday, October 1, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. PDT
Collages, Bamboo and Prints: A Day of Japanese Art in Los Angeles

Join JASA President Wilson Grabill for a curator-led day of Japanese art in Los Angeles. Our program begins at the Shumei Hall Gallery in Pasadena (2430 E. Colorado Blvd.), where art historian and independent Japanese art curator Meher McArthur will take us through her fascinating new show, Deep Ocean, Deep Space: Cosmic Collages by Yuko Kimura. More information on the artist and exhibition here.

Next, we will go to Japan House Los Angeles (6801 Hollywood Blvd., 2ndfloor), where Program Manager Trast Howard will take us through Life Cycles: A Bamboo Exploration with Tanabe Chikuunsai IV. A fourth-generation bamboo artist, Tanabe Chikuunsai IV (b. 1973) dramatically pushes the boundaries of the art form.  More information on the exhibition here.

At 2 p.m., we will gather at Japan Foundation (5700 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 100) for a tour of the fascinating print show Engines of Progress: Images of Railroad Culture in Modern Japan, led by its curator Kendall Brown, professor of art history at California State University Long Beach. More information here.

The tour is open to all JASA members and their guests, limited to 15 attendees. Entrance to all venues is free. Sign up in advance is required. To register, please click here.

During the early Meiji period (1868-1912), woodblock prints had an important role to play in circulating information among the general populace. Printed in a resplendent rainbow of colors the images show a fantasy of the Meiji urban landscape, and an ideal of what Meiji life could be. Sold as part of the vernacular publishing milieu, the prints give us insights into the interests of the populace, but as they were heavily censored, the images must be read with attention to the political climate in which they were made. This talk by Alison J. Miller, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Art History and Director of Asian Studies at the University of the South (Sewanee, Tennesee), will provide an introduction to the woodblock prints of the 1870s and 1880s with a focus on how the images worked to create and reinforce social conceptions of Meiji values and ideals.

Dr. Miller specializes in modern and contemporary Japanese art, prints and photography, and the intersections of gender studies and visual culture. Her research has been funded by a Fulbright Fellowship, Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship, and Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, among others. She has published in the Journal of Japanese Studies, TransAsia Photography Review, Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas (ADVA), and contributed to various public humanities projects and museum catalogues. She is co-editor and contributing author for The Visual Culture of Meiji Japan: Negotiating the Transition to Modernity (Routledge, 2021), and is currently finalizing her book manuscript Envisioning the Empress: The Lives and Images of Japanese Imperial Women, 1868-1952 (expected 2023).

Webinar posted: View the video for Industry and Institutions: Woodblock Prints and the Meiji Cultural Imagination with Alison J. Miller, Ph.D.

Thursday, November 10, 2–4 p.m. EST

Kislak Center, University of Pennsylvania Libraries
6th floor of Van Pelt Library
3420 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206

Arthur Tress and the Japanese Illustrated Book

Join us for an in-person visit to the new exhibition Arthur Tress and the Japanese Illustrated Book, and a special presentation of selected ukiyo-e prints from collections held in the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. This exhibition celebrates Tress’s gift in 2018 of about 1200 books, dating from the early 17h century through the 1930s. The exhibition presents selected books from the collection and pairs them with his own photographs, offering insights into his artistic sensibilities and presenting moments of unexpected visual poetry that resonate across place and time.

Professor Julie Davis will be on hand to talk with JASA members about the project as well as to show select prints from recent gifts, including works by Kiyonaga, Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige, and others. For those who visited the Van Pelt Library a few years ago, Professor Davis assures us that new material is on view. We will meet inside the Library vestibule a few minutes before 2pm. The Library entrance is on the campus side of 3420 Walnut Street. For a map, please click here.

December

Monday, December 5, 5 p.m. EST
Webinar: Clay as Soft Power: The Rise of Shigaraki Ware in Postwar America

Our final program of 2022 features Natsu Oyobe, Ph.D., curator of Asian Art at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Specializing in modern and contemporary Japanese art, Dr. Oyobe has curated numerous Japanese art exhibitions, including Wrapped in Silk and Gold: A Family Legacy of 20th-Century Japanese Kimono (2010), Mari Katayama (2019), and Clay as Soft Power: Shigaraki Ware in Postwar America and Japan (2022). She is also involved in cross-cultural projects from a variety of historical periods, including Isamu Noguchi and Qi Baishi: Beijing 1930 (2013). Dr. Oyobe served as a consulting curator for the Detroit Institute of Arts’ new Japan Gallery (2016–2017) and the Denver Art Museum (2020). She is contributor and co-editor of Great Waves and Mountains: Perspectives and Discoveries in Collecting the Arts of Japan (University Press of Florida, 2022).

Among the many ceramic styles in Japan, Shigaraki ware is perhaps the most recognizable in America. How did the humble ware, characterized by its earthy tones, rough surfaces, and natural ash glazes, achieve this status?

Beginning in the 1960s, it was collected by American museums, studied in American publications, and admired by American artists, some of whom traveled to Shigaraki to learn the techniques. In the Cold War era, Shigaraki ware was promoted as a means of fostering public support for a U.S.-Japan coalition. The ware’s simple, rustic aesthetic was ideal to rebrand Japan as a peaceful, democratic ally.

After the 1980s, Shigaraki ware remained a locus of international exchange promoted by Japan as it rose to become an economic power. Illustrating through historic jars, works by American artists inspired by Shigaraki ware, and recent works by contemporary Japanese artists, this talk will uncover the stories of Shigaraki ware and its impact in America from the postwar era into the 21st century.

This talk is held in conjunction with the exhibition Clay as Soft Power: Shigaraki Ware in Postwar America, currently on view at the University of Michigan Museum of Art through May 7, 2023. For more information, please click here.

The exhibition is accompanied by a 92-page fully illustrated companion publication with contributions by Natsu Oyobe, Kazuko Todate, and Louise Allison Cort. To purchase copies, please contact Neil Van Houten, Retail Operations Manager, University of Michigan Museum of Art.

Webinar posted: View the video for Clay as Soft Power: The Rise of Shigaraki Ware in Postwar America, with Natsu Oyobe, Ph.D.