Rare 19th Century Japanese Surimono Albums on Show
Yashima Gakutei, A Woman with a Box and A Woman with Spools, 1820s
The RISD Museum on Rhode Island will open The Artistry and Reunion of Two Surimono Albums reuniting for the first time in nearly a century two extraordinary albums of Japanese surimono, luxurious woodblock prints that combine poetry, imagery, and exquisite craftsmanship.
Running May 23 through October 4, these were originally assembled in Osaka in the late 1820s by poet Iga Kurimi and bring together more than 175 works created by designers, poets, and printmakers, pairing richly layered imagery with witty kyōka verse, a playful and often subversive form of classical Japanese poetry.
Surimono (“printed things”) were often exchanged at poetry gatherings and created to mark special occasions such as the New Year, seasonal festivals, theatrical performances, and personal milestones. Many depict treasured objects such as food, textiles, tools, and symbols of celebration which were rendered carefully through embossing, metallic pigments, and fine papers.
The exhibition is organized into thematic sections that explore how surimono were made and read, how they marked seasonal and personal occasions, and how they circulated within creative communities.
“Bringing these albums back together is a powerful reminder of how art connects people across time, place, and community,” said Tsugumi Maki, Director of the RISD Museum. “This exhibition invites visitors into the creative process of these exquisite prints, encouraging curiosity, close looking, and new ways of understanding how objects carry meaning and memory.”
The two albums were separated in the 20th century after being gifted to American geologist Raphael Pumpelly in 1863. One album, still intact in its original accordion binding, is on loan from the Chiba City Museum of Art in Japan. The other, now unbound as individual prints, entered the RISD Museum’s collection in the 1950s.
“Surimono exemplify a deeply collaborative form of making,” said Dominic Molon, Chief Curator at the RISD Museum. “They bring together designers, poets, carvers, and printers in a process that rewards sustained attention."
