Posted by Dan (24.58.4.235) on January 12, 2006 at 23:07:57:
Dear Fellow Ukiyo-e Q&A'ers:
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum in Ithaca, New York is holding an exhibition of surimono from this Saturday, January 14, through March 19. The sixty-seven surimono on display come from one of the best private collections in the world and are not usually available for viewing by the general public. Some two-thirds of it may be familiar to surimono fans from the catalogue "Jewels of Japanese Printmaking: Surimono of the Bunka-Bunsei Era 1804-1830" (Joan Mirviss and John Carpenter), made for the last showing of the collection at the Ota Museum in Tokyo in 2000.
I was fortunate to be involved in putting up the Johnson's show, and can tell you frankly that seeing reproductions simply does not suffice: there is nothing at all like viewing these works in person, and experiencing their rich textures and glowing color harmonies--not to mention the opportunity to see so many fine pieces together and compare them side-by-side.
Entrance to the exhibition and the rest of the Johnson (there is a simulataneous show on Japonisme starting next week, plus several others on Asian art) is completely free, and the museum is open Tuesdays to Sundays (closed Mondays) from 10 to 5. If anyone is in the area and would like to walk through the surimono show with me, I'd be delighted. For those who can't visit, an extensive catalogue will also be available through the museum from the end of this month.
Further information is available at: http://www.museum.cornell.edu/HFJ/currex/exhibits2.html
I can be reached at djm53@cornell.edu.
Thanks to Hans Olof for maintaining this board and permitting me this posting.