Happy New Year 2023: Totoya Hokkei
Mekari Shinji at the Mekari Shrine in Japan is an annual ritual of cutting wakame seaweed—symbolizing wealth and good fortune—from the ocean at low tide on New Year’s day of the old ...
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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
"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
Sumidagawa in July: Japanese Woodcuts
The actual festival of Sumidagawa (“Sumida River”) occurs in Tokyo in the last week of August, but there are fireworks in Tokyo from May through August, starting with the Opening of the Su ...
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Curator's Corner
National Monkey Day: Shimizu Seifu
I always admit I’m never too old to learn. This week I learned about National/International Monkey Day, which fell on the 14th of December. The commemorative day has only been around since 2000, ...
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Curator's Corner
Survey No. 10: Ubiquitous Real
So far we have taken a look at Classicism and Romanticism around the world in the 1800s. Now let’s look at “realism,” which—like every other style—has been a trend somewh ...
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Curator's Corner
Saturated Autumn Color: Meiji Period
I know I showed a Japanese artist’s work last week, but I got so excited when I came across this woodcut print that I just had to share it with you. It’s a perfect example of saturation&nb ...
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Curator's Corner
Wood Engraving Artist: Grace Arnold Albee
There is a high degree of skill in printmaking, particularly—in the case of relief printing—the carving of the vehicle. I, for one, have tried relief printing, both linoleum cuts and woodc ...
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Curator's Corner
Aizuri-e = Wonderful: Kunisada
Aizuri-e means blue printed picture. Traditionally, the blue was derived from the dayflower. However, via the Dutch in Osaka, Prussian blue was imported from Europe as early as the 1790s. It did ...
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Curator's Corner
Pioneer Art Educator: Arthur Wesley Dow
The late 1800s and early 1900s was an amazingly fertile period in American art. Between the 1870s and 1890s, thousands of American artists went to Europe to study art. This included the likes of ...
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