Lecture Videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAoo84xkIgc In this September 29, 2022, lecture, Maggie Mustard, PhD, presented a history of postwar Japanese photography from 1945 to 1980, focusing on the major themes and practitioners at the heart of the media’s development following the end of the Second World War. Dr. Mustard introduced the central questions that photographers were asking in the immediate postwar moment—what does “realism” mean for a photograph? Should…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtPR0nRY8gY For those members who could not participate in our June 28, 2022, in-person tour of the exhibition Kimono Style: The John C. Weber Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, on August 24, we offered this Zoom webinar with Monika Bincsik, Diane and Arthur Abbey Associate Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Dr. Bincsik shared her curatorial…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHcn4cpkadA This May 10, 2022, talk with Alice North and Louise Allison Cort presents a new book, Listening to Clay: Conversations with Contemporary Japanese Ceramic Artists, by Alice North, Halsey North and Louise Allison Cort. The book tells the stories of 16 revered Japanese ceramic artists in their own words. These celebrated artists with unparalleled skill and creative brilliance range in age from 94 to…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BydORXLgx1U This April 28, 2022, talk by Markus Sesko, Associate Curator of Asian Arms and Armor at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, introduces the museum’s extensive Japanese arms and armor collection and discusses the newly opened exhibition Samurai Splendor: Sword Fittings from Edo Japan, on display until spring 2024. This exhibition explores the luxurious aspect of Edo-period sword fashion, a fascinating area of Japanese arms…

https://youtu.be/yVuYL61bn1U On March 20, 2022, the keynote address of the Japanese Art Society of America annual meeting was delivered by the well-known ukiyo-e collector George Mann, who spoke about extraordinary prints and legendary figures in the Japanese print world. View more lecture recordings

https://youtu.be/Ka66JoDCORM (This talk recording is audio only!) On February 9, 2022, Dr. Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer presented a talk on postwar Japanese calligraphy. Based on her recent book Bokujinkai: Japanese Calligraphy and the Postwar Avant-Garde,  she introduced the Kyoto-based avant-garde calligraphy group named Bokujinkai, and explored their international trajectories. Bokujinkai—or “People of the Ink”—was a group formed in 1952 by five calligraphers: Morita Shiryū, Inoue Yūichi, Eguchi…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUA-qsV5BTc On January 11, 2022, Professor Max Moerman presented a talk on the specialized subject of maps in Japanese Buddhism. From at least the 14th through the late 19th century, Japanese monks have created and used maps to construct, represent, and find their place in a Buddhist world. Such maps provide a spatial history of religious thought, inform intellectual orientation and cultural identity, and reveal…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDKIhVaQTtE In 2021, several superb exhibitions focused on the master artist Hokusai. A wonderful show at the National Museum of Asian Art, on view until January 9 2022, highlights 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 until January 30, 2022. Other museum curators…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1ls-iXkboM This November 3, 2021, talk drew on groundbreaking research into Edward C. Moore, the head of Tiffany & Co.’s silver division during the second half of the 19th century, conducted for the recently published book Collecting Inspiration: Edward C. Moore at Tiffany & Co. and the accompanying exhibition that will be presented at The Metropolitan Museum in 2024. An avid, pioneering collector of works…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNE2JbJPvao On October 12, 2021, Japanese art historian Meher McArthur discussed her upcoming exhibition Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper, which will begin touring the country this autumn. Her talk presented the works of nine Japanese artists featured in the exhibition: Hina Aoyama, Eriko Horiki, Kyoko Ibe, Yoshio Ikezaki, Kakuko Ishii, Yuko Kimura, Yuko Nishimura, Takaaki Tanaka and Ayomi Yoshida. These artists have different…