National Pet Day: Isoda Koryūsai
National Pet Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated on April 11. It was founded 2005/2006 by animal advocate and pet and family lifestyle expert Colleen Paige. The day is dedicated to all types of pe ...
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Curator's Corner
National Poetry Month: Sōtatsu Tawaraya and Hon'ami Koetsu
I’ve posted previously about how poetry can be a visual art form when in the hands of a great calligrapher. I am not ashamed to repeat that assertion with this beautiful example of calligraphy c ...
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Curator's Corner
Gems of the Month: Aizuri-e
This month, I’m celebrating aizuri-e, or “blue prints,” from Japan’s ukiyo-e style that flourished during the Edo Period (ca. 1615–1868). The color Prussian blue was intr ...
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Curator's Corner
Kimono Patterns and Ukiyo-e Prints
The Worcester Art Museum is hosting a fascinating exhibit tying kimono design and its importance in the ukiyo-e print aesthetic. Ukiyo-e, meaning “images of the floating (i.e. transient physical ...
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Curator's Corner
Auspicious Friend for the New Year: Kanō Isen'in Naganobu
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 ...
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Curator's Corner
World Watercolor Month: Yosa Buson
If any artists could be called the “masters” of watercolor, it would be the artists of Asia—particularly far eastern Asia (Japan, China, Korea)—who, for centuries, used in ...
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Curator's Corner
Fuji (Wisteria) Matsuri: Utagawa Hiroshige
In Japan, April 21 to May 6 is the time of the Fuji Matsuri, or “Wisteria Festival.” During the festival, traditional music and dance are performed at the Kameido Tenjin shrine on the outs ...
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Curator's Corner
Simplicity: Sakai Hōitsu
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 ...
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Curator's Corner
"Hmm, Ginko Leaf or Toothbrush?"
I just got a crown on a tooth this week, so I thought I’d do a teeth-themed posting. Goodness knows I don’t love going to the dentist, but he’s a really good one, so I’m no lon ...
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Curator's Corner
First Snow Response
In the last week we had our first measurable snow in Massachusetts. I’m totally the kind of dork who’s all “it’s so pretty to walk around when it’s snowing.” And si ...
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