Richard J. Wood Art Curator Series
With funding from the Japan-United States Friendship Commission and the United States-Japan Foundation, NAJAS developed tis series in 2015 to highlight the role of Japanese art in the U.S.-Japan relationship. We ask curators of collections of Japanese art in U.S. museums to tell the story of the collectors, the collections and how they came to the museum. The presentations are hosted by JAS in cities other than the home museum. It is the only national program focusing on this important aspect of the U.S.-Japan cultural relationship.
2021-2022 events funded by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission:
Japan America Society of Michigan and Southwestern Ontario
| Date: | Thursday, June 2, 2022 |
| Title: | Isamu Noguchi: Transnational Icon |
| Curator: | Dakin Hart; Senior Curator, The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum |
| Venue: | Detroit Opera House in Detroit, MI |
Japan-America Society of Colorado
| Date: | Monday, March 28, 2022 |
| Title: | Made in Fukushima: The Woodblock Prints of Saito Kiyoshi Saito Kiyoshi |
| Curator: | Dr. Rhiannon Paget; Curator of Asian Art, John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art |
| Venue: | Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities in Arvada, CO |
Japan America Society of Michigan and Southwestern Ontario
| Date: | Thursday, October 28, 2021 |
| Title: | Isamu Noguchi: Transnational Icon |
| Curator: | Dakin Hart; Senior Curator, The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum |
| Venue: | Virtual |
The Japan-America Society of Georgia
| Date: | October 15, 2021 |
| Title: | Hokusai at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
| Curator: | Dr. Sarah Thompson; Curator, Japanese Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts |
| Venue: | The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA (hybrid format) |
The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania
| Date: | Thursday, October 7, 2021 |
| Title: | The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection and 20th-Century Japanese Painting and Calligraphy in the Freer Gallery of Art |
| Curator: | Dr. Frank Feltens; Japan Foundation Associate Curator of Japanese Art at Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, National Museum of Asian Art in Washington DC |
| Venue: | Carnegie Museum of Art theater in Pittsburgh, PA (hybrid format) |
2020-2021 events funded by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission:
Heart of America Japan America Society
| Date: | October 21, 2021 |
| Title: | Isamu Noguchi: Transnational Icon |
| Curator: | Dakin Hart; Senior Curator, The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum |
| Venue: | Virtual in collaboration with the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO |
Japan-America Society of Dallas/Fort Worth
| Date: | October 20, 2021 |
| Title: | Hokusai at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston |
| Curator: | Dr. Sarah Thompson; Curator, Japanese Art, Boston Museum of Fine Arts |
| Venue: | Crow Museum of Asian Art in Dallas, TX (hybrid format) |
Japan America Society of St. Louis
| Date: | Saturday, October 2, 2021 |
| Title: | The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection and 20th-Century Japanese Painting and Calligraphy in the Freer Gallery of Art |
| Curator: | Dr. Frank Feltens; Japan Foundation Associate Curator of Japanese Art at Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, National Museum of Asian Art in Washington DC |
| Venue: | Pulitzer Arts Foundation in St. Louis (hybrid format) |
Japan-America Society of Washington DC
| Date: | Thursday, April 29, 2021 |
| Title: | Made in Fukushima: The Woodblock Prints of Saito Kiyoshi Saito Kiyoshi |
| Curator: | Dr. Rhiannon Paget; Curator of Asian Art, John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art |
| Venue: | Virtual |
Japan Society (New York)
| Date: | Tuesday, October 27, 2020 |
| Title: | Painting Edo: Early Modern Masterworks from the Feinberg Collection |
| Curator: | Dr. Rachel Saunders; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Curator of Asian Art at the Harvard University Art Museums |
| Vernue: | Virtual |
The Japan-America Society of Georgia
| Date: | November 19, 2020 |
| Title: | Art in the U.S.-Japan Relationship: A Curator’s Perspective with Monika Bincsik Celebrating the Arts of Japan |
| Curator: | Dr. Monika Bincsik; Associate Curator of Japan Decorative Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) |
| Venue: | Virtual |
Japan-America Society of Northwest Florida
| Date: | Tuesday, October 20, 2020 |
| Title: | 2020 A Curator’s Perspective on Japanese Textiles by Andreas Marks |
| Curator: | Dr. Andreas Marks; Senior Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art |
| Venue: | Virtual |
The Japan America Society of Chicago
| Date: | Thursday, October 8, 2020 |
| Title: | Richard E. Fuller and Aspiring Emulators: Collecting Japanese Art In Seattle |
| Curator: | Dr. Xiaojin Wu; Curator of Japanese & Korean Art, Seattle Art Museum |
| Venue: | Virtual |
Japan-America Society of Houston
| Date: | Thursday, September 17, 2020 |
| Title: | Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection |
| Curator: | Dr. Rachel Saunders; Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Curator of Asian Art, Harvard University Art Museums |
| Venue: | Virtual |
2019 events funded by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission:
Japan America Society of North Carolina
| Date: | Wednesday, October 30, 2019 |
| Title: | Nagai Tabi - Tales and Travels of Japanese Works of Art to America |
| Curator: | Dr. Janice Katz; Roger Weston Curator of Japanese Art, Art Institute of Chicago |
| Venue: | Gregg Museum of Fine Arts in Raleigh, NC |
Japan America Society of Greater Austin
| Date: | Friday, September 20, 2019 |
| Title: | Bella Mabury and Beyond: Collecting Japanese Textiles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
| Curator: | Dr. Sharon S. Takeda; Senior Curator and Head of the Costume and Textiles Department at Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) |
| Venue: | The University of Texas, School of Human Ecology, Division of Textiles and Apparel in Austin, TX |
Heart of America Japan America Society
| Date: | Sunday, July 7, 2019 |
| Title: | Meditative Stillness and Exuberant Energy: A Taste for the Poetic in Japanese Art: Selections from the Collection of Mary and Cheney Cowles |
| Curator: | Dr. Maribeth Graybill; Curator of Asian Art, Portland Art Museum |
| Venue: | Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO |
The Japan America Society of Pennsylvania
| Date: | Thursday, April 18, 2019 |
| Title: | Art in the U.S.-Japan Relationship: Preserving the Floating World |
| Curator: | Dr. Stephen Salel; Robert F. Lange Foundation Curator of Asian Art, Honolulu Museum of Art |
| Venue: | Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA |
2018 events funded by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission:
Japan-America Society of Colorado
| Date: | Wednesday, December 5, 2018 |
| Title: | The Bostonians (Bigelow, Fenollosa, Morse and Okakura) and Japanese art at the MFA |
| Curator: | Dr. Anne Nishimura Morse; William and Helen Pounds Senior Curator of Japanese Art, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) |
| Venue: | Denver Art Museum in Denver, CO |
Japan America Society of Houston
| Date: | Monday, September 24, 2018 |
| Title: | Avery Brundage and Japanese Art at the Asian Art Museum |
| Curator: | Dr. Robert Mintz; Deputy Director, Asian Art Museum (San Francisco) |
| Venue: | Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, TX |
Japan-America Society of Central Ohio
| Date: | Thursday, June 7, 2018 |
| Title: | From Jeptha Wade to Kelvin Smith: Collecting Japanese Art in Cleveland |
| Curator: | Dr. Sinéad Vilbar; Curator of Japanese Art, Cleveland Museum of Art |
| Venue: | Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, OH |
Japan-America Society of St. Louis
| Date: | Saturday, May 5, 2018 |
| Title: | Richard E. Fuller and Japanese Art at the Seattle Art Museum |
| Curator: | Dr. Xiaojin Wu; Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Seattle Asian Art Museum |
| Venue: | Pulitzer Art Foundation in St. Louis, MO |
2017 events funded by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission:
Japan-America Society of the State of Washington
| Date: | Tuesday, May 23, 2017 |
| Title: | Preserving the Floating World |
| Curator: | Stephen Salel; Robert F. Lange Foundation Curator of Japanese Art, Honolulu Museum of Art |
| Venue: | Seattle Museum of Art in Seattle, WA |
The Japan-America Society of Pennsylvania
| Date: | Thursday, May 11, 2017 |
| Title: | Ukiyo-e and the Windy City: Clarence Buckingham’s Prints at the Art Institute of Chicago |
| Curator: | Janice Katz; Roger Weston Associate Curator of Art, Art Institute of Chicago |
| Venue: | Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, PA |
Japan-America Society of North Carolina
| Date: | Monday, April 24, 2017 |
| Title: | The Three Perfections of Japanese Art: Painting, Poetry, and Calligraphy - Masterworks from the Mary Griggs Burke Collection |
| Curator: | John Carpenter; Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| Venue: | Ackland Museum of Art at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC |
2015-2016 pilot program events funded by the United States-Japan Foundation:
The Japan-America Society of Georgia
| Date: | Thursday, March 24, 2016 |
| Title: | The Mary Griggs Burke Collection and the Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| Curator: | John Carpenter; Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
| Venue: | High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA |
Japan America Society of New Mexico
| Date: | Monday, February 22, 2016 |
| Title: | Avery Brundage and Japanese Art at the Asian Art Museum |
| Curator: | Laura Allen; Curator of the Japanese Collection, Asian Art Museum (San Francisco) |
| Venue: | Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe, NM |
Japan-America Society of Colorado
| Date: | Thursday, January 14, 2016 |
| Title: | Charles Lang Freer and Japanese Ceramics |
| Curator: | Louise Allison Cort; Curator for Ceramics, Smithsonian Institution, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery |
| Venue: | Denver Art Museum in Denver, CO |
Japan-America Society of Michigan and Southwest Ontario
| Date: | Sunday, November 1, 2015 |
| Title: | The Bostonians (Bigelow, Fenollosa, Morse and Okakura) and Japanese art at the MFA |
| Curator: | Anne Nishimura Morse; William and Helen Pounds Senior Curator of Japanese Art, Museum of Fine Arts (Boston) |
| Venue: | Charles Lang Freer House in Detroit, MI |
Heart of America Japan-America Society
| Date: | Saturday, September 19, 2015 |
| Title: | Strange and Wondrous: Japanese Art Collected by Bill Clark |
| Curator: | Andreas Marks; Senior Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Director of the Clark Center for Japanese Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art |
| Venue : | Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO |
NAJAS and our members are deeply grateful to the Japan-United States Friendship Commission and the United States-Japan Foundation.