Blogs

Japanese painting

Curator's Corner

Artist Birthday: Kanō Motonobu

Thursday, August 28, 2025 | Karl Cole

The Kanō School artists—the favored group of painters for the nobility and shogunate—worked in a variety of genre, including traditional yamato-e that included bright patterns and gold lea ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

World Watercolor Month: Kawakami Ryoka

Wednesday, July 30, 2025 | Karl Cole

Japanese artists have been proficient in water-soluble media for centuries. Early forms of water-soluble media included gofun—crushed white clam shells mixed with water and pigments—and di ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Humor in Art Since the 1500s

Monday, January 13, 2025 | Karl Cole

Now that winter has set in with a vengeance, I think it is the perfect time to look at some art that can elicit a smile. ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

August is National Dog Month: Maruyama Ōkyo

Monday, August 5, 2024 | Karl Cole

I recently learned that August is celebrated as National Dog Month. I’m all for a month dedicated to those loyal and darling fellow sentients! A well-known doggy treat maker announced the month- ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Summer Weather: Kanō Yôsen'in Korenobu

Monday, July 22, 2024 | Karl Cole

July usually brings some steamy weather days to summer in New England. I’m sure we all know what it’s like when it’s already hot and humid and then it rains, adding a further haze to ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Auspicious Friend for the New Year: Kanō Isen'in Naganobu

Monday, January 4, 2021 | Karl Cole

Pine trees are one of the three “auspicious friends”—plants (along with bamboo and plum blossom) that help welcome the New Year in Japan. Pines are auspicious because they survive an ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Women's (Art) History Month: Sarah Wyman Whitman, Sabina Elliott Wells, Seikō Okuhara

Monday, March 9, 2020 | Karl Cole

Women’s (Art) History Month continues with tributes to three more interesting artists I have encountered in my art historical travels. ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Tokuyama Gyokuran

Monday, August 19, 2019 | Karl Cole

A nice way to spend a summer day: imagining yourself wandering in this landscape by my Gem of the Month, Tokuyama Gyokuran. (As a side note, Chinese scholars considered a painting successful if it inv ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Simplicity: Sakai Hōitsu

Monday, August 5, 2019 | Karl Cole

The first week of August is called National Simplify Your Life Week. What says “simplicity” more than a series of paintings inspired by the Zen Buddhist philosophy of finding Enlightenment ...

Read Article
Curator's Corner

Pioneer Japanese Woman Artist: Kiyohara Yukinobu

Tuesday, March 3, 2009 | Karl Cole

Every year when March rolls around, I start to yearn for spring. What better way to celebrate that yearning than by presenting an artwork with spring as the subject matter? ...

Read Article

Always Stay in the Loop

Want to know what’s new from Davis? Subscribe to our mailing list for periodic updates on new products, contests, free stuff, and great content.

Back to top