Overview: Exhibitions, Events and Publications

Exhibitions:

Vincent van Gogh Huis Zundert, Netherlands: DUET – Holland + Japan | Until 4 October 2026

This exhibition showcases the results of exchanges with Japan. The museum in Zundert combines works by Dutch and Japanese artists, like a ‘duet’. Inspiration from Van Gogh serves as a guiding principle in this process.

Design Museum London: NIGO - From Japan with Love | Until 4 October 2026

Explore the vision and legacy of Japanese designer and creative director NIGO – from street style to music and beyond, in the first UK exhibition showcasing his multifaceted creative work, alongside vintage objects and traditional crafts from his personal collection.

Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art: Edo in Focus -  Japanese Treasures from the British Museum | Until 17 October 2026

This exhibition will showcase selected masterpieces from the British Museum’s some 40,000-piece Japanese collection with a focus on Edo-period paintings on folding screens (byobu), hanging scrolls (kakejiku), and handscrolls (emaki), as well as prints by eight renowned ukiyo-e artists including Utamaro, Sharaku, Hokusai, and Hiroshige.

Japan House London: Kyotographie - Kawada Kikuji x Iwane Ai | Until 18 October 2026

Encounter two of Japan’s most exciting photographers – Kawada Kikuji and Iwane Ai – in a rare opportunity to see their thought-provoking works in the UK. Kyotographie (awarded five stars by The Guardian) is the first time both artists have been presented together, with their works displayed in large, immersive projections and prints that make visitors feel part of the images themselves.

Joan B Mirviss LTD, New York: Patina of Time: The Clay Art of Iguchi Daisuke | Until 30 October 2026

A native of Tochigi Prefecture in northeastern Japan, Iguchi Daisuke creates ceramic works that unify surface and form. The intricate linear surface patterns that adorn his vessels’ surfaces undulate in perfect harmony with their gently curving, occasionally lobed forms, offering a compelling evolution of the region’s burgeoning aesthetic tradition while exploring themes that are entirely his own.

Abdij van Stavelot Stavelot, Belgium: From Woodblock Print to Manga - Artistic Japan | Until 29 November 2026

From the great masters of Edo-period woodblock printing to the renowned mangaka of contemporary times, the exhibition highlights a graphic tradition and aesthetic culture that has been passed down in Japan since the medieval era.

Asian Art Museum, Turin: Dreamscapes | Until 29 November 2026

An exhibition dedicated to Utagawa Hiroshige's celebrated series The 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō, one of the greatest masterpieces of nineteenth-century Japanese art, from the UniCredit collection.

Kyoto National Museum: The Tale of Genji - Radiant Culture of the Japanese Imperial Court | 6 October — 29 November 2026

An exhibition of unprecedented scale presenting a diverse array of about 250 artworks, featuring masterful paintings and works of decorative art inspired by scenes from the Tale and its motifs, later manuscript editions and commentaries produced by successive generations, and works tracing the novel’s influence on the performing arts.

О̄ta Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo: Katsushika Oi “Night Scene in the Yoshiwara” －The Lineage of Nightscapes | 6 October — 6 December 2026

An exhibition featuring masterpieces of night-scene imagery from the Edo period through the Meiji and Taishō periods. The exhibition is centred on the masterpiece by Katsushika Ōi, daughter of Hokusai, titled Night Scene in the Yoshiwara, and also features nocturnal works by masters such as Suzuki Harunobu, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Kobayashi Kiyochika. 

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago: Utamaro - Elements of Beauty | Until 21 December 2026

This exhibition brings together more than 40 of Utamaro’s most celebrated designs, all drawn from the Art Institute’s collection.

The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo: Takehisa Yumeji—An Artist Who Defined His Era | 23 October —11 January 2027

Bringing together 500 works and materials from collections across Japan—including Takehisa's renowned masterpiece Kurofuneya, as well as Japanese-style paintings, oils, woodblock prints, sketches, a wide variety of designs, and scrapbooks—this exhibition explores the diverse scope of Yumeji’s work. 

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam: Yayoi Kusama | Until 17 January 2027

A retrospective exhibition spanning Kusama's seven-decade career. 

Japanmuseum Sieboldhuis: Licht over Deshima | Until 8 February 2027

Light over Deshima invites visitors to discover the earliest photographs of Japan. The exhibition explores how Dutch and Japanese scholars, physicians, and photographers came together on Deshima in the mid-nineteenth century, and how photography became an invaluable means of documenting a society in transition.

Contemporary Art Museum, Luxembourg: Japanese Women Artists after 1945 | Until 14 February 2027

This exhibition surveys the work of thirty-nine women artists from Japan who contributed to the global artistic landscape from the post-war period to the turn of the twenty-first century. Drawing on the artists' creative resilience and persona! lives, it unfolds across five thematic chapters and brings together more than 120 works, many of which have rarely, if ever, been shown outside of Japan.

The Met, New York City: The Infinite Artistry of Japanese Ceramics | Until 8 August 2027

Featuring refined ceramics and other artworks from the Museum’s Harry G. C. Packard Collection, this exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of this landmark acquisition that established the foundation of The Met’s Japanese art holdings. 

Events:

Convention: International Netsuke Society Convention | Brussels | 1 October — 4 October
Join collectors, scholars, and artists for an immersive exploration of netsuke in the heart of Brussels. Enjoy lectures, workshops, and the dealers exhibition while connecting with the international netsuke community. Admission fee and membership required. 

Boekpresentatie: Getuigenissen van Hofdame Nijō, vertaald door Jos Vos | Spui 25, Amsterdam | 9 Oktober

Wereldklassieker voor het eerst in het Nederlands vertaald door meestervertaler Jos Vos. Nijōs memoires werden pas in de twintigste eeuw ontdekt en deden algauw het nodige stof opwaaien: nooit eerder was de Japanse hoge adel zo openhartig en ontluisterend beschreven. Het is verleidelijk de auteur te beschouwen als slachtoffer van haar omgeving, maar bij aandachtige lezing van haar werk blijkt dat ze zeer zelfbewust was en een uitzonderlijke poëtische gevoeligheid bezat. Getuigenissen van hofdame Nijō is een meesterwerk van de wereldliteratuur, en we horen een van de aangrijpendste vrouwenstemmen uit de middeleeuwen.

 Camera Japan Festival | Rotterdam: 23–27 September | Amsterdam: 1–4 October

CAMERA JAPAN Festival is a multidisciplinary Japanese arts and culture festival held each year in Rotterdam and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Asian Art in London | 29 October — 10 November 2026 
An annual programme dedicated to promoting London as a centre of excellence in the arts of Asia. These include symposia, performances, gallery talks, openings, lectures, short courses and much more. London’s eclectic resources make it a hub for art-world professionals and enthusiasts.

 Tokugawa Ieyasu as Medicine King | Lecture by Timon Screech | Leiden University | 3 December 2026

This lecture will look at the ongoing worship of Ieyasu as healer throughout the Edo Period.

Publications:

Arlette van Kouwenhoven. Brandende IJver: Siebold. De Biografie. Published by LM Publishers. 2025. 

Een ware ontdekkingstocht naar de wijze waarop 19de-eeuwse wetenschappers en naturalisten hun drang naar kennis en persoonlijke roem gestalte gaven. Philipp Franz von Siebold speelde daarmee een cruciale rol in de culturele uitwisseling tussen Japan en het Westen. Zijn werk legde de basis voor de moderne Japanse geneeskunde en botanie en zijn invloed reikt tot op de dag van vandaag. Het boek is een must-read voor iedereen die geïnteresseerd is in geschiedenis, wetenschap en de boeiende verhalen van 19de-eeuwse avonturiers en culturele bruggenbouwers.

Wei-Cheng Lin and Chelsea Foxwell (eds.). Exhibiting East Asian Art in a Global Context. Published by Art Media Resources. 2026. 

Essential reading for students, scholars, and museum professionals, this book offers new insights into the stakes and possibilities of curating today’s East Asian art.

Kuniko Forrer, Matthi Forrer. Nippon: Japan through the Eyes of Philipp Franz von Siebold, 1832-1852. Published by Universiteit Leiden en Lannoo. May 2026. 

This unique single-volume reissue contains all the original plates, featuring fascinating illustrations of Japanese rituals, warfare, court culture, traditional dress, landscapes and much more. Kuniko Forrer and Matthi Forrer, experts on Japan, provide the historical context and detailed commentary accompanying all the illustrations.

This new edition of Nippon achieves what Siebold set out to do: introducing readers to the land of the shogun and inspiring wonder at the extraordinary beauty of Japan.

Recommendations for to the list can be submitted to: secretary[at]societyforjapaneseart.org