It's the Little Things in Life: Miscellaneous Arts
I despise the terms “decorative arts” and “minor arts” to categorize any art work that is not a painting, print, photograph, or sculpture. I prefer the word “miscellaneou ...
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Curator's Corner
Winter
Well, it’s winter. Instead of ruefully awaiting spring, I prefer to look at works of art that evoke the idea of winter, one way or another. It’s always interesting to me how artists can ca ...
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Curator's Corner
Happy New Year: Japanese Surimono
Since I’m feeling lazy this week, I’m showing you Japanese New Year cards (surimono) again. I think they’re lovely, and who wouldn’t want to receive one of these color woodcut ...
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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
The Noble Carp?
It probably doesn’t occur to most people to view a fish as a symbol of heroic qualities, unless maybe it’s a whale or a shark. In Japan, the carp (koi in Japanese) is a symbol of cour ...
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Curator's Corner
More Wearable Art: Reiko Sudo
You may remember that I introduced you to the fiber art of Korean artist Jeung Hwa-Park, whose work is fabulous, back in 2009. Now I’ve discovered this wonderful Japanese artist who bowls me ove ...
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Curator's Corner
The Beauty of Wayō Shodō
Did you known that the Japanese did not have a written language up until the 400s CE? I find cursive Japanese so incredibly beautiful. The story behind its development is very interesting, and I bet y ...
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Curator's Corner
A Neglected Japanese Printmaker: Gosōtei Hirosada
I’m pretty sure there’s generally a misconception about the ukiyo-e phenomenon in Japanese art. It is certainly one I had until I recently came across hundreds of gorgeous woodblock prints ...
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Curator's Corner
How Old Is This? Edo and Jutta Sika Ceramics
Lately, I can’t seem to get away from seeing “abstraction” in all sorts of places. I came across this wonderful Japanese bowl from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s, during the Edo period ( ...
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Curator's Corner
Survey No. 12: Abstraction
In our art history survey, we are now at the end with the 1900s. The big “revelation” in Western art starting very late in the 1800s and flowering in the early 1900s was abstraction. Abstr ...
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