Miyamura Hideaki (b. 1955), Snow Cup with Gold Glaze, glazed porcelain, H. 11.6 in.

Celebrations: Brightness and Lustre in Contemporary Japanese Ceramics, Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd.
Now on view-January 5, 2022

Brightness and lustre are inherent to the history of Japanese decorative arts. From textiles to ceramics, surface sheen and the ability for objects to iridesce has endured throughout the ages. In contemporary Japanese ceramics, artists render beautifully elaborate innovations on the potential for ceramic surfaces to opalesce. This exhibition is especially suited to the holiday season and offers Dai Ichi Gallery an opportunity to welcome and thank collectors, guests, and supporters at this festive time.

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Trefoil-shaped Covered Box with Decoration of Chrysanthemums (detail), ca. 12th century, lacquer inlaid with mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell over pigment, brass wire, 1 5/8 in., L. 4 in., D. 1 3/4 in.

Shell and Resin: Korean Mother-of-Pearl and Lacquer
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Recently opened-July 5, 2022

Lacquerware with mother-of-pearl inlay has a long and rich tradition in the history of Korean art. This exhibition will showcase The Met’s outstanding collection of Korean lacquerware with nearly 30 examples from the twelfth century to the present, marking the Museum’s first exhibition dedicated solely to Korean lacquerware. The thematic arrangement will examine the technical and aesthetic development of the art form, as well as highlight its larger intra-Asian context through comparative examples of Chinese, Japanese, and Ryukyu (Okinawan) lacquers and South Asian mother-of-pearl. Highlights will range from an exceedingly rare box from the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) to a mixed media painting by contemporary artist Lee Bul.

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Jun'ichiro Sekino (1914-1988), Nishijin (Kyoto) in Snow, 1973, ink and color on paper, 55.5 x 73 cm.

Egenolf Gallery offers a wide selection of fine Japanese prints and drawings for the perfect holiday gift. Two-day Fedex shipping is available, so there is still time to shop. They are posting daily on their website holiday gift ideas and new acquisitions. A special discount is available through their website.

Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889), Dance of the Long-Nosed Goblins, 1867, ink and color on paper,
35.3 x 25 cm.

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Kamoda Shōji (1933-1983), Jar (detail), 1971, stoneware with red and green painted glazes, 4 ½ x 6 1/2 in.

Minneapolis Institute of Art, Kamada Shōji: The Art of Change
December 11, 2021-April 17, 2022

Kamoda Shōji (1933–1983) became one of Japan’s most celebrated potters. His groundbreaking approach to the interplay among material, form, and surface helped revolutionize the way Japanese artists approached ceramic production. Inquisitive, thoughtful, and tireless, Kamoda was driven to innovate and experiment. His astonishing output and creativity garnered him a considerable following in Japan, and more recently in the United States. Despite his untimely death at the age of 49, this admiration continues today. This exhibition, the first outside of Japan, features nearly 50 works from 10 private American collections and spans the breadth of his brilliant artistic career.

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Wonsook Kim, Walking the Dry Land III, 2020, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in.

Dreams of Nature
November 11, 2021-January 29, 2022

This exhibition includes paintings by Woonsook Kim and ceramics by Geejo Lee, who are both Korean artists.

Wonsook Kim creates story-based figurative paintings that are poetic and ethereal in their fluid execution and mythical subject matter. She accepts that calligraphy has a clear influence on her work because she grew up surrounded by images of this type. Kim’s artworks are the result of her lifetime experiences in Korea and the United States. The highlight among her recent paintings is Walking the Dry Land III from the series The Wilderness (Gwang-ya) paintings.

Geejo Lee, Moon Jar, 2020, white porcelain, 19 1/8 in. high

Geejo Lee was born on Jeju Island. He received both his BA and MA from Seoul National University. In his pieces, Lee is fully absorbed with interpreting the unique aesthetics of Joseon white porcelain. This Moon Jar, dated 2020, is one of the best works from his series of moon jars.

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Anonymous, Quail, Sparrows, and Millet, early 16th century, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk,
32 5/16×13 5/8 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Japan: A History of Style, 3rd Rotation, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Closing this weekend, last day Sunday, December 5, 2021

This exhibition celebrates how gifts and acquisitions of the last decade have transformed The Met’s ability to narrate the story of Japanese art by both expanding and deepening the range of remarkable artworks that can meaningfully elucidate the past. Each of the ten rooms that make up the Arts of Japan Galleries features a distinct genre, school, or style, representing an array of works in nearly every medium, from ancient times to the present. Highlights include the debut of a spectacular group of contemporary metalwork by Living National Treasures and emerging artists.

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While at the Met, be sure to see as part of this rotation and before it closes, too, the works from artist and collector Paul Binnie's completed series, A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo. The prints, which the Met acquired from Scholten Japanese Art in 2017, are brilliantly displayed side-by-side with stunning examples of ukiyo-e masterpieces that inspired Binnie's compositions—in a way that very few museums would have the ability to do.

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Masatoshi (sign.), Recumbent Hare with Raised Forepaw, c. 1880, ivory and buffalo horn, de Waal Family Collection

The Hare with Amber Eyes Exhibition at the Jewish Museum
November 19, 2021-May 15, 2022

The Hare with Amber Eyes tells the story of the Ephrussi family—celebrated in the 2010 memoir and The New York Times bestseller of the same name by Edmund de Waal—and showcases the breadth and depth of their illustrious collection. The exhibition explores the family’s rise to prominence and splendor in the first half of the nineteenth century, followed by a focus on the prolific collector and historian of art, Charles Ephrussi, to the inter-war years, and finally World War II, when the family lost its fortune and collection to Nazi looting.

The exhibition’s centerpiece is the extraordinary collection of Japanese netsuke, miniature carved sculptures of the Edo Period (17th-19th centuries), hidden by a maid from German officials in her mattress during World War II, and later returned to the family after the war. Also on display are items from the Ephrussi’s collections, including artworks by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Gustave Moreau, and Auguste Renoir, among others; decorative objects; and family photos and ephemera from their lives across four continents. The most recent member of the family to inherit the netsuke collection, author and ceramicist Edmund de Waal, drew from them the inspiration for his memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes, continuing the family’s storied legacy of artistic and cultural pursuits.

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Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Dragon head Kannon (The Great Picture Book of Everything), 1820s-40s, ink on paper. Purchase funded by the Theresia Gerda Buch Bequest, in memory of her parents, Rudolf and Julie Buch, with support from Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation). © The Trustees of the British Museum

Hokusai: A Curatorial Perspective
Zoom Webinar, Wednesday, December 1, 5pm EST

JASA (Japanese Art Society of America) welcomes you to join their exciting and informative series of presentations about this year's several superb exhibitions focusing on the master artist Hokusai. A wonderful show at the National Museum of Asian Art focuses on the collection of Hokusai drawings, paintings and screens collected by its founder, Charles Lang Freer. Across the Atlantic, the British Museum features a much-anticipated exhibition of drawings by Hokusai. Other museum curators have turned their attention to new publications. This webinar offers an opportunity to hear four expert curators and specialists speak about their perspective on connoisseurship of Hokusai drawings, prints and paintings.

The presentations are:
Frank Feltens, Japan Foundation Associate Curator of Japanese Art, National Gallery of Asian Art, Visualizing Thunder: Hokusai’s Thunder God
Alfred Haft, JTI Project Curator for Japanese Collection, British Museum, Hokusai’s Illustrations for The Great Picture Book of Everything
Andreas Marks, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, To Wave or not to Wave: Variations in Hokusai's Fuji Prints
Sarah Thompson, Curator of Japanese Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Drawings by Hokusai and His Pupils at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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