Kotobuki explores auspicious imagery and celebratory subjects through inspired selections of paintings, calligraphy, surimono, textiles, ceramics, and baskets dating from the 12th to the 21st centuries, including works that will be on view to the public for the first time – all from private New York 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. 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.
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. The artworks are grouped by collections and are loosely organised 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 12 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 1820-30s. Unlike the mass distribution of ukiyo-e prints, they 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, signalling the onset of spring and hope for the year to come. Three surimono by 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 six-panel folding screen by the Edo-period painter Nagasawa Rosetsu (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 Rosetsu’s career, the energetic brushwork exemplifies his mastery of ink painting, while the tree itself alludes to the artist’s advancing age.
In the 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. 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-circa 1014 to circa 1030).
Continuing through the seasons, autumn colours achieve their peak on a stunning pair of two-fold screen paintings, Musashino in Autumn (circa 1945-46) by the modern Nihonga artist Tanaka Isson (1908-1977) and the monochrome 18th-century ink painting Chrysanthemums and Brushwood Fence by Ito Jakuchu (1716-1800). Chrysanthemums, symbols of longevity, are often associated with autumn.
Moving on to winter, Tiger in the Snow (1849) by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) represents the chill of deep winter with its splatter-painting gofun (white pigment made from ground shells) across the entire composition to create the impression of flurries.
To end the exhibition, on view for the first time, is a pair of six-panel screens, Phoenix and Peacock in a Landscape (16th-century) from the Kano School by Motonobu (1476-1559), which feature 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.
Kotobuki was guest curated by Dr Miyeko Murase (1924-2025), a seminal figure in the field of Japanese art, who has sadly died before the opening of the exhibition. Dr Murase passed away in February 2025, at the age of 100, leaving behind an extraordinary legacy that has shaped the study and appreciation of Japanese art for generations. Japan Society joins the Japanese art community in mourning the death.
Dr Murase was the Takeo and Itsuko Atsumi Professor Emerita of Japanese Art at Columbia University and served as a special consultant for Japanese art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. With a career spanning more than half a century, she was instrumental in bridging the realms of academia, private collections, and museum curation.
Her contributions were recognised with the prestigious Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, awarded by the Japanese government for her exceptional dedication to Japanese culture. She was also a trusted advisor to Mary Griggs Burke, whose significant collection of Japanese art now resides at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
Dr Murase curated numerous landmark exhibitions that have left an indelible mark on the field, 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 Met, as well as A Giant Leap: The Transformation of Hasegawa Tohaku (2018) at Japan Society. Her students—many of whom now hold teaching and curatorial positions at leading institutions—carry forward her deep knowledge, meticulous scholarship, and passion for Japanese art.
In her final curatorial role, Dr Murase served as guest curator of Kotobuki: Auspicious Celebrations of Japanese Art from New York Private Collections, which will open at Japan Society on March 13, 2025. The exhibition, which brings together rarely displayed masterworks from significant New York private collections, embodies many of the themes central to her curatorial ethos: the power of collecting, the endurance of tradition, and the interplay between private and institutional art worlds.
Kotobuki: Auspicious Celebrations of Japanese Art from New York Private Collections, from 13 March to 11 May, Japan Society Gallery, New York, japansociety.org
