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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915 Japan)

Thursday, September 10, 2026 | Karl Cole

Kiyochika Kobayashi was undoubtedly one of the late, great masters of the Ukiyo-e style in the late 1800s Japan. He brilliantly blended tradition with Western influences. ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Watanabe Kunio (born 1967 Japan)

Wednesday, June 3, 2026 | Karl Cole

Long before ceramic arts were recognized as fine art in the West, the art form was revered as a priceless national treasure in Japan. Contemporary artists like Kunio Watanabe continue to build on the ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Tsujimura Shirō (born 1947 Japan)

Friday, May 22, 2026 | Karl Cole

Like many of the Japanese artists born after World War II (1939-1945), the art of Shirō Tsujimura is a reverent combination of honoring ages-old Japanese artistic traditions, and adding contemporary a ...

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Curator's Corner

A Barber's Bowl Bouquet for Spring

Monday, April 27, 2026 | Karl Cole

When visiting a museum collection, I have always marveled at objects meant for medical, military or some other non-aesthetic purpose are, just the same, beautifully decorated. This happened recently w ...

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Curator's Corner

National Picnic Day: Art by Mori Keiko (born 1939 Japan)

Thursday, April 23, 2026 | Karl Cole

Keiko Mori is a National Living Cultural Treasure in Japan. Her ceramics celebrate the centuries old traditions in ceramic arts. Although ceramic picnic baskets do not strictly speaking exist in the W ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Mori Mariko (born 1967 Japan)

Thursday, February 12, 2026 | Karl Cole

Mariko Mori is an internationally acclaimed artist whose practice explores universal questions at the intersection of life, death, reality, and technology. She is known for her photographs and videos ...

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Curator's Corner

National Umbrella Day: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861 Japan)

Tuesday, February 10, 2026 | Karl Cole

The origins of this recognition day is uncertain, but Umbrella Day has been celebrated since 2004. The origins of the contemporary, waterproof umbrella date to the 1700s in France, while umbrellas as ...

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Curator's Corner

Who Knew? Healthcare can be Art Subject Matter

Monday, January 26, 2026 | Karl Cole

Healthcare, medicine costs, insurance, etc. have been a hot topic for a long time, and a lot of the problems have consistently not changed for the better. Another thing about healthcare that has not c ...

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Curator's Corner

More Winter White: Keisai Eisen (1790-1848 Japan)

Tuesday, January 20, 2026 | Karl Cole

I continue to celebrate winter, my second favorite season after autumn, with yet another snow scene. Eisen Keisai is typical of the artists of the classic Ukiyo-e period (late 1700s to early 1800s), i ...

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Curator's Corner

Happy and Healthy New Year!

Monday, December 22, 2025 | Karl Cole

I cannot image a better way than saying “goodbye” to 2025 than with the uplifting, positive sentiments reserved for the pine tree in Japanese and Chinese cultures. There are very few e ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Sato Koichi

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Sato’s poster work shows just how fully Japanese graphic designers have absorbed Western modernist aesthetics and combined them with traditional Japanese sensibilities. Japanese poster art d ...

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Curator's Corner

The Week of Shichi-go-san: Kitagawa Utamaro

Monday, November 10, 2025 | Karl Cole

“Rites of passage” refer to cultures all over the world in which certain birthdays are celebrated as stepping stones to a new period of life. A Japanese example is Shichi-go-san. The n ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Sekino Junichirō

Thursday, October 23, 2025 | Karl Cole

Sekino Junichirō was a woodblock printmaker in the sōsaku hanga movement, in which the artists draws the subject, cuts the woodblock, and prints the image themselves. These artists often incorpora ...

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Curator's Corner

National Apple Day: Art by Yokoi Tomoe

Tuesday, October 21, 2025 | Karl Cole

There are about 7000 varieties of apple in the world. Apples have been a favorite element of still life since still life became an accepted stand-alone subject matter in Western art. The unique pr ...

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Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Matsuzaki Kenichi

Wednesday, October 15, 2025 | Karl Cole

Kenichi Matsuzaki exemplifies the richness of the contemporary ceramic art of Japan. His rough surface stoneware works pay tribute to the centuries old traditions of Japanese ceramics, one of the ...

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Curator's Corner

Ode to Autumn Pattern: Kawanishi Hide

Tuesday, September 16, 2025 | Karl Cole

One of the traditions of Japanese art through the ages has been documenting the seasons and months of the year in art. My particular favorites are representations of autumn (it’s only a week awa ...

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Japanese art

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Artist Birthday: Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915 Japan)

Artist Birthday: Watanabe Kunio (born 1967 Japan)

Artist Birthday: Tsujimura Shirō (born 1947 Japan)

A Barber's Bowl Bouquet for Spring

National Picnic Day: Art by Mori Keiko (born 1939 Japan)

Artist Birthday: Mori Mariko (born 1967 Japan)

National Umbrella Day: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861 Japan)

Who Knew? Healthcare can be Art Subject Matter

More Winter White: Keisai Eisen (1790-1848 Japan)

Happy and Healthy New Year!

Artist Birthday: Sato Koichi

The Week of Shichi-go-san: Kitagawa Utamaro

Artist Birthday: Sekino Junichirō

National Apple Day: Art by Yokoi Tomoe

Artist Birthday: Matsuzaki Kenichi

Ode to Autumn Pattern: Kawanishi Hide

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Most Popular

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Always Stay in the Loop