Miyashita Zenji (Japanese, 1939 – 2012), Twin Breezes, 2008, glazed stoneware with colored-clay bands. Purchased with the East Asian Art Revolving Fund and with funds contributed by Maxine de S. Lewis, 2024-9-1. Photography by Richard Goodbody, Courtesy of Joan B Mirviss LTD
The Philadelphia Museum of Art presents two compelling new exhibitions that celebrate global artistry across centuries and cultures. Opening June 14, Visions of the Land in Japan showcases works spanning over five hundred years—from 1500 to the present—tracing the evolving artistic interpretations of Japan’s landscapes and the cultural shifts they mirror through paintings, ceramics, and more. Complementing this is Head to Toe: African and Asian Wearables from the Ira and Myrna Brind Collection, a recently opened exhibition that highlights the artistry of adornment across continents. Featuring intricate jewelry, textiles, and headdresses, it explores how notions of status, identity, and value are expressed through wearable art. Don’t miss the chance to experience these rich and resonant exhibitions this summer!
Visions of the Land in Japan
Opening Date: June 14, 2025
Galleries 341-343
Representing the land we live in is a common practice shared across the world. In Japan, artists created a large body of landscape art ranging from indigenous yamato style to ones that incorporated Chinese and later Euro-American ideas and techniques.
When Chinese ink painting as a new art form was introduced to Japan around 1300, it ushered a fresh way of rendering landscapes for Japanese artists. Chinese paintings became prized collectables for Buddhist temples and the ruling class, and served as indispensable models for Japanese painters who aspired to master painting with ink and brush. Over the centuries that followed, Japanese artists developed their visions of ink landscapes, either as idealized, imaginary sceneries or as renditions of a true view. The encounters with Euro-American art since 1550s offered yet another inspiration for expanding the horizons.
Drawing from the museum’s collection including some recent gifts, the works featured in these galleries span more than five hundred years from 1500 to the present and vary in mediums from painting to ceramics. They showcase the evolution and expansion of artistic expressions of the land in Japan, and offer glimpses into the shifting cultural and social landscapes as well.
To learn more, click here.
Bridal Headdress, early 20th century, Yao, China (Guangxi province), lacquered cotton plain weave, bamboo, glass beads, silk yarns; The Ira and Myrna Brind Collection, BRN-12
Head to Toe: African and Asian Wearables from the Ira and Myrna Brind Collection
May 9, 2025 – January 19, 2026
Penny and Bob Fox Hall
The media and materials used to make artworks are often encoded with culturally specific notions of value, status, or prestige.
Comprised almost entirely of wearables (including jewelry, headdresses, and textiles) from both Africa and Asia, this exhibition explores how notions of value and status are encoded within artistic media. It examines how trade and other forms of exchange have influenced the meaning of specific materials for the cultures and regions represented and how materials acquired abroad become incorporated into local systems of meaning.
To learn more, click here.