Rarely displayed Japanese artworks from private collections on view in NYC

Japan Society presents “Kotobuki: Auspicious Celebrations of Japanese Art from New York Private Collections,” an exhibition that offers an exceptional opportunity to view important, but rarely displayed Japanese artworks from significant collections in the New York area. “Kotobuki,” on view March 13 through May 11, 2025, explores auspicious imagery and celebratory subjects through inspired selections of paintings, calligraphy, surimono, textiles, ceramics, and baskets dating from the 12th-21st centuries, including works that will be on view to the public for the first time.

The exhibition showcases works drawn exclusively from private collections, including: the Fishbein-Bender Collection, the Leighton and Rosemarie Longhi Collection, the Diane and Arthur Abbey Collection, the John C. Weber Collection, the Virginia Shawan Drosten and Patrick Kenadjian Collection, the David Tausig Frank and Kazukuni Sugiyama Collection, and other private collections. By presenting artworks from the most prominent private collections of Japanese art in New York, “Kotobuki” considers the importance of collecting practices, illustrating how many masterpieces of Japanese art have historically moved from the homes of discerning private collectors to form the foundation of major institutional collections. Demonstrating this trajectory within the exhibition is a significant pair of 16th-century six-panel folding screens from the collection of Rosemarie and Leighton Longhi, which is now a promised gift to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in memory of Leighton Longhi.

Dr. Miyeko Murase

“Kotobuki” is guest curated by the late Dr. Miyeko Murase, a seminal figure in the field of Japanese art. Dr. Murase, Emerita Takeo and Itsuko Atsumi Professor of Japanese Art at Columbia University and former Special Consultant for Japanese Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, was a major force in academia for well over half a century and a bridge between the worlds of private and public Japanese art collections. Dr. Murase was a trusted advisor to Mary Griggs Burke, whose pioneering collection of Japanese art is now held by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Awarded the Japanese government’s most prestigious cultural and academic honor “Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon,”

Dr. Murase’s influence has been profound. She curated numerous groundbreaking exhibitions, including: “Bridge of Dreams: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection of Japanese Art” (2000) and “Turning Point: Oribe and the Arts of Sixteenth-Century Japan” (2003) at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and “A Giant Leap: The Transformation of Hasegawa Tōhaku” (2018) at Japan Society. Murase’s students from her decades of teaching now themselves teach and curate at many of the leading institutions in the United States.

Several weeks before the opening of this exhibition, Dr. Murase passed away peacefully. Her final exhibition is a tribute to a long life of remarkable scholarship and significant contributions to the field of Japanese art history. The legacy of her passion will be passed along for generations. In her memory, many of her former students, colleagues, gallerists, and leading collectors of Japanese art have come together to celebrate a shared appreciation of Japanese art and to recognize Dr. Murase’s remarkable contributions to the field.

Strolling Through Seasons

Reflecting the exhibition’s focus on auspicious symbolism and celebrating the passage of time, “Kotobuki” leads viewers on a contemplative stroll through a garden of seasonal scenery. Arranged along this path, artworks grouped by collection are loosely organized by the four seasons, beginning with works associated with the New Year and early spring, then turning to depictions of autumn, before concluding with a set of paintings celebrating each of the twelve months of the year. Auspicious symbols of longevity, including cranes and turtles, appear among the trees and flowers, anticipating future seasonal cycles.

The exhibition opens with a series of surimono, a subgenre of woodblock printing that developed in Japan around the 1820-1830s. Unlike the mass distribution of ukiyo-e prints, surimono were commissioned privately in limited numbers and given as gifts to mark special occasions, most often in celebration of the New Year. The imagery and poetry were often auspicious–-examples include: Mt. Fuji, which is thought to bring good luck if it appears in one’s first dream of the New Year, and plum blossoms, which bloom as winter thaws, signaling the onset of spring and hope for the year to come. Three surimono by renowned print designer Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) are featured in the exhibition: A View of Mt. Fuji (ca. late 1820s), a depiction of cranes, which were believed to live for a thousand years, and a scene of swimming turtles, which were said to live 10,000 years.

In dialogue with these prints is a remarkable six-panel folding screen by the Edo-period painter Nagasawa Rōsetsu (1754-1799), White Plum Blossom in the Evening (after 1787). In addition to heralding a change in seasons, old plum trees can symbolize longevity, resilience, and strength. Painted late in Rōsetsu’s career, the energetic brushwork exemplifies his mastery of ink painting, while the grand tree itself alludes to the artist’s advancing age

In this spring exhibition, cherry blossoms, evocative of springtime rebirth and renewal, appear in several works. A six-panel folding screen entitled Mount Yoshino (late 16th-century) shows a sweeping view of the spring landscape at Yoshino, one of the most celebrated places to view cherry blossoms in Japan. Depicting sakura trees in peak bloom along rolling green hills, this painting contemplates springtime and its fleeting beauty. Cherry blossoms, a favored design on Nabeshima ware, are scattered across A Pair of Porcelain Dishes (early 18th century). The windswept petals evoke their ephemerality, symbolizing the evanescence of the season and of life in general. Cherry blossoms also frame a romantic encounter in the work Two Scenes from The Tale of Genji (first quarter of 17th century), which depicts two episodes from the literary masterpiece written by Murasaki Shikibu (978-ca. 1014 or ca. 1030).

The subtle curvature of the Lily-shaped Flower Basket (hanakago) (c. 1926-1937) by master craftsman Tanabe Chikuunsai I (1877-1937) recalls an early summer lily bud about to burst into bloom, the delicate open plaiting of the bamboo suggestive of warm breezes. A cluster of lotuses, which open in the heat of mid-summer, appear on a large porcelain dish of the Ko-kutani type. Associated with purity and one’s spiritual path, the vibrant green leaves are surrounded by a saturated yellow background of seigaiha (“blue sea wave”), an infinitely repeating auspicious pattern emblematic of endless serenity and peace.

Continuing through the seasons, autumn colors achieve their peak on a stunning pair of two-fold screen paintings, Musashino in Autumn (ca. 1945-1946) by the modern nihonga (Japanese-style painting) artist Tanaka Isson (1908-1977). Isson’s naturalistic depiction of fall foliage reveals his interest in photography and scientific observation of plants and birds, but also suggests his art historical knowledge of 19th-century Rinpa-style painting, in which realistic seasonal motifs were captured in simple, graphic compositions. Chrysanthemums, symbols of longevity associated with autumn, appear in the monochrome ink painting Chrysanthemums and Brushwood Fence (18th century) by Itō Jakuchū (1716-1800). Each flower is depicted in an identical, highly stylized, frontal view expertly rendered with concentric rings of ink wash.

Deep winter is depicted in a remarkable painting, Tiger in the Snow (1849) by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Though best known for his prints, Hokusai was also a skilled painter, and in this work renders a lithesome tiger leaping through snow. Even in this late-career work, Hokusai remained experimental, splatter-painting gofun (white pigment made from ground shells) across the entire composition to create the impression of flurries. Mirroring the seasonal garden within the galleries, a selection of contemporary ceramics will be installed in the JS atrium, evoking a rock garden. The innovative forms are created using experimental techniques springing from centuries-old stoneware and porcelain traditions. Works such as Spring Snow (2022) by Hoshino Satoru (1945-) express the shift from winter to spring in clay.

Finally, on view for the first time, a resplendent pair of six-panel screens, Phoenix and Peacock in a Landscape (16th-century) from the School of Kano Motonobu (1476-1559), features an auspicious peacock and imaginary phoenix within a panoramic landscape that unifies imagery of all four seasons. The paintings knit together auspicious images, symbols of longevity, and seasonal motifs to express an otherworldly garden not unlike the exhibition itself. Emblematic of the collecting practices on view throughout the galleries, this screen will join the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art when the exhibition concludes.