Please note the change of date

Booking opens on TicketSource on 10 September. Click the TS logo on the homepage of this website to book your place.

This Special Interest Day on Japanese Arts and Culture will open with a broad introduction to Japanese Art through the ages before focusing on Japanese Gardens and the Art of the Japanese Kimono. There will be opportunities for discussion throughout the day.

Lecture 1: The Arts of Japan: Highlights of Japanese Art and Culture

An overview of the arts of Japan, charting the development of the Japanese aesthetic in painting, sculpture, and the applied arts. The strength of Japanese design shines through these different art forms from different periods of history and will provide a context for the lecture topics to follow.

Lecture 2: The Art of the Japanese Garden

A visual tour of some of Japan’s most famous gardens, both grand and intimate in scale, illustrating the distinctive qualities that the Japanese have brought to garden design, an approach successfully adapted to modern domestic settings and to Japanese gardens abroad.

Lecture 3:  Dressed to Thrill: The Art of the Japanese Kimono

The kimono, literally ‘thing to wear’, reflects wider aspects of Japanese life and culture. This lecture will delve into its rich history, elaborate designs, and symbolism, from everyday kimono to wedding kimono, to the elaborate dress of Japanese geisha. It will conclude with examples of contemporary Japanese fashion inspired by traditional kimono.

We will unravel the hidden meanings in the depictions of different foods, from religious symbolism to sexual innuendo, and how images of food provide codes to social, political and religious messages.

Further details will follow.