Surimono: Privately Published Japanese Prints
Exhibition Overview
Surimono prints were often commissioned by poetry groups and designed both by leading ukiyo-e artists and by amateurs, to be given to friends as New Year's greetings and announcements of special events. In delightful essays on sixty prints, Roger Keynes, guest curator, draws upon his extensive familiarity with history and legends, language and literature, customs and culture, to reveal the fascination of a forgotten art. The catalogue of the exhibition includes a complete catalogue of the collection of prints at the Spencer Museum of Art (University of Kansas) with 60 color plates, 186 black and white reproductions, brief entries on 268 images and a comprehensive bibliography.
Surimono, the most elegant woodblock prints ever made, were sent as New Year's greetings in 19th century Japan. These were selected from the Museum's collection of 268 images.
Exhibition images
Works of art
