National Museum of Asian Art Presents Japan in Focus This Fall

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art has announced “Japan in Focus,” a series of exhibitions and public programs that offer visitors new ways to deepen their understanding of Japanese art and culture. Beginning on Oct. 26 with the unveiling of the reinstalled permanent collection and continuing through late 2026 with exhibitions and programs, the museum will invite visitors to discover an array of traditions from the region, from historical and contemporary artistic practices to cultural ceremonies.

Japanese art has been a cornerstone of the National Museum of Asian Art since the museum opened to the public in 1923. The museum was founded with a gift to the nation by Charles Lang Freer of some 9,500 works of art, more than 2,000 of which were Japanese paintings and ceramics as well as Buddhist paintings, metalwork and sculpture. Today, the National Museum of Asian Art has expanded its Japanese collection to more than 15,000 objects spanning four millennia, including paintings, woodblock prints, lacquers, calligraphy and photographs, accounting for nearly one-third of the museum’s permanent collection.

“The founding of our museum is deeply rooted in Japanese arts and culture—Freer’s first purchase was a painted fan from Japan—and it has continued to be an area of expansion and expertise throughout our history,” said Chase F. Robinson, director of the National Museum of Asian Art. “As our museum enters its second century, we are continuing to build on this strength through dedicated exhibitions and public programs that create new opportunities for visitors to forge connections through the arts of Japan.”

The exhibitions and events—organized by Frank Feltens, curator of Japanese art; Sol Jung, The Shirley Z. Johnson Assistant Curator of Japanese Art; Nicole Dowd, head of public programs; and Kit Brooks, curator of Asian art at Princeton University and formerly The Japan Foundation Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the National Museum of Asian Art—reflect the museum’s commitment to growing its Japanese program and collection and serving as a national and international leader in the study, preservation and presentation of Japanese art and culture.

Unveiling of the Reinstalled Japanese Collection

Opening Oct. 26, the National Museum of Asian Art will unveil “Japanese Art from the Collection,” a reinstallation of its permanent collection of objects from Japan with over 60 works ranging from 3000 B.C. to the 20th century. “Japanese Art from the Collection” will transform the way visitors engage with the objects on display, which will be reconfigured into thematic sections with historic and contemporary relevance—ecology, trade, the body in Japanese art, crises and opportunities. The reinstallation will demonstrate the relevance of these themes over extended periods of time and bring objects from different eras into dialogue with one another. Comprising paintings, sculptures, calligraphy and ceramics, the display will reflect the breadth and growth of the museum’s permanent collection of Japanese art.

The reinstallation will feature opportunities for visitors to learn more about Japanese art and its cultural context. A ceramic tea leaf jar named “Chigusa,” which was elevated into an aesthetic masterpiece in the context of Japanese tea culture, will be on view for the first time in a decade. An updated version of a video that was made in 2013 in collaboration with the Omotesenke tea school in Japan will be on view in Gallery 6 alongside Chigusa. In Gallery 7, a designated contemplative space will allow visitors to pause and reflect.

“The strength and remarkable diversity of our Japanese collection enabled us, in the reinstallation, to bring works that are hundreds of years old into conversation with 20th-century objects,” Feltens said. “Our intention is to help visitors to find parallels and draw connections between the objects on view and their contemporary world.”

Exhibitions

“Japan in Focus” is anchored by five exhibitions—each of which expand on the museum’s strengths in research, curation and scholarship—spotlighting a distinct method of artmaking:

• “Striking Objects: Contemporary Japanese Metalwork” (through Jan. 18, 2026): Demonstrating how contemporary Japanese metalworking practices breathe life into traditional methods, the exhibition will feature 17 artworks in the permanent collection alongside 18 metalworking tools housed in the museum archives that recently came to the museum as part of a bequest of former board member Shirley Z. Johnson (1940–2021). Johnson’s gift made the museum home to the largest collection of such works in the United States and includes exquisitely crafted objects such as vessels and containers made of silver, copper, gold and Japanese alloys, as well as metalworking tools such as hammers, chisels and specialized Japanese stakes.
• “The Print Generation” (Nov. 16, 2024–April 27, 2025): Highlights from the Kenneth and Kiyo Hitch Collection and the Gerhard Pulverer Collection illustrate the development and evolution of the “sōsaku hanga” (creative print) movement in Japan. In the early decades of the 20th century, a new generation of artists broke from existing traditions in Japanese printmaking, undertaking all aspects of a work’s creation—designing, carving and printing—themselves. The resulting artworks are often rough, raw and reflective of the artists’ individualism and self-expression amid a changing world.
• “Knotted Clay: Raku Ceramics and Tea” (through 2026): Japan’s history of ceramic artistry developed in large part alongside the culture of drinking tea. “Knotted Clay” explores a form of distinctive, hand-molded ceramics known as Raku and their close relationship to Japanese tea culture. Unlike most tea bowls, Raku ceramics are built by hand—a process described as “knotting clay”—as opposed to using a wheel. Over the centuries, a network of Japanese potters incorporated Raku techniques into their practice; these techniques were later adopted in the 1950s by the American studio pottery movement.
• “Reasons to Gather” (April 12, 2025–April 26, 2026): Drawn from a gift of nearly 200 objects in the Kinsey Chanoyu Collection, this exhibition and related programs will center on the practice of “chanoyu,” the Japanese art of tea. As a lifelong devotee to the practice of chanoyu, Gregory Kinsey, a former trustee of the museum, has offered his collection to the museum for the express purpose of using the collection’s utensils in public programs and events focusing on the traditional preparation of tea. The exhibition will feature tea ceramics alongside their accoutrements: wrapping cloths, silk pouches, boxes and lacquerware, to explore how materials from China, Korea, South Asia and Japan come together as an aesthetic ensemble in the context of chanoyu.
• “Cut+Paste” (opening June 2025): Exploring their potential for personal expression, this exhibition focuses on the work of 20th-century Japanese artists who worked experimentally with different surfaces, processes and textures. Drawn entirely from the museum’s collection of works on paper, “Cut+Paste” (tentatively titled) will present over 30 prints and photographs that have repeatedly worked surfaces, almost all of which have never been on display before.

Public Programs

A series of public programs throughout the year will foster a greater understanding of Japan and its intersection with America, creating opportunities for visitors to experience Japanese culture through touch, taste and smell.

Upcoming programming includes a tea presentation that will feature the tea utensils that were part of Kinsey’s gift to the museum’s study collection, hands-on workshops in which participants can learn about and make traditional Japanese crafts and drink matcha, in-person and virtual roundtable discussions and lectures about the art history of Japanese tea utensils and the history of Japanese tea culture in the United States. 

Full details on “Japan in Focus” public programs will be announced in the coming months. Follow asia.si.edu for updates.

Credit

Support for the museum’s Japanese art program is provided by Mitsubishi Corporation. 

About Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art is committed to preserving, exhibiting, researching and interpreting art in ways that deepen our collective understanding of Asia and the world. Home to more than 45,000 objects, the museum stewards one of North America’s largest and most comprehensive collections of Asian art, with works dating from antiquity to the present from China, Japan, Korea, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Islamic world. Its rich holdings bring the arts of Asia into direct dialogue with an important collection of 19th- and early 20th-century American works, providing an essential platform for creative collaboration and cultural exchange between the United States, Asia and the Middle East.

A 1906 gift from Charles Lang Freer paved the way for the museum’s opening in 1923, and today the National Museum of Asian Art is a leading resource for visitors, students and scholars in the United States and internationally. Its galleries, laboratories, archives and library are located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The museum is free and open to the public 364 days a year (closed Dec. 25), making its exhibitions, programs, learning opportunities and digital initiatives accessible to global audiences.

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