Kabuki-Actor Portraits by Tōshūsai Sharaku
Between the summer of 1794 and early spring of 1795, an artist using the name Tōshūsai Sharaku produced around 150 prints representing Kabuki actors: a prolific display of innovation in a mere ten months.
Foreign Exchange: Photography between Chicago, Japan, and Germany, 1920–1960
This exhibition features more than 100 works by more than 30 artists in the museum’s permanent collection, and provides an opportunity for visitors to learn about the new visual language that came to prominence in photography after World War I.
Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan
Radical Clay celebrates 36 contemporary ceramic artists—all women—through 40 stunning, virtuosic pieces.
Munakata Shikō and Buddhism in 20th-Century Japanese Prints
In Japan, printing and Buddhism have long been closely linked.
Ghosts and Demons in Japanese Prints
There’s a Chinese legend about a man, Zhong Kui, who failed the examinations to become a scholar-official and subsequently took his own life. The emperor, upon hearing of this tragedy, had him buried with high honors, thereby securing his protection as a spirit guardian who would defend the country from supernatural forces.
Ink Play: Paintings by Lui Shou-Kwan
Lui Shou-Kwan 吕寿琨 (1919–1975) was one of the pioneers of the New Ink painting movement, which aimed to modernize traditional Chinese ink painting in Hong Kong in the 1950s–1970s.
Monochromatic Japanese Prints
In its oldest and most basic form, a printed image consists of black ink indirectly applied to paper.
Kingfisher Headdresses from China
Since ancient times, Chinese poets have praised the plumage of the kingfisher, a bird widely found in the tropical regions of Asia.