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Events

Exhibition

05/23/2026 - 10/04/2026
Providence, RI

The Artistry and Reunion of Two Surimono Albums

Sakuragawa Jihinari, Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa in the play Shibaraku, ca. 1830. Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 34.366. RISD Museum, Providence, RI.
Sakuragawa Jihinari, Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa in the play Shibaraku, ca. 1830. Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. 34.366. RISD Museum, Providence, RI.

Time and Location

May 23 – October 4
RISD Museum (Providence, RI)

About

The Artistry and Reunion of Two Surimono Albums explores the stories within two special albums of privately commissioned Japanese woodblock prints that were compiled in Japan in the 1820s to 1830s. The surimono in these albums are sumptuous examples of woodblock printmaking accompanied by playful poems, offering us a window into Japan’s art and literary scene of the time. The RISD Museum owns the prints from one surimono album that was unbound, now a group of 88 separate works. Its companion album, still intact, is currently in the collection of the Chiba City Museum of Art in Japan. This exhibition reunites these two albums after almost a century, highlighting the unique cultural and artistic contexts in which these prints were commissioned, created, and shared.

Curated by Wai Yee Chiong, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Curator of East Asian Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and former curator of Asian art, RISD Museum.

For more information: The Artistry and Reunion of Two Surimono Albums | RISD Museum

This event is supported through the Exhibitions Abroad Support Program.