Very exciting news - the Ashmolean Museum will be showing the first exhibition of Meiji textiles ever to be held outside Japan later this year. The Meiji era 1868–1912 was the famous period of Japonisme, which saw the European Impressionist painters exploring themes and styles taken from Japanese art, and Victorian rooms filled with Japanese decorative arts and crafts. Japanese artists were producing exquisite embroideries, sophisticated resist-dyed silk and velvet panels, grand tapestries, and appliqué work that captured the imagination of the West. This exhibition promises 40 examples of the highest-quality Meiji textiles from the newly acquired collection of the Kiyomizu-Sannenzaka Museum in Kyoto. Pieced together from around the world, this outstanding collection is one of the finest and most comprehensive of its type in existence. Also on display will be some superb pieces from the Ashmolean’s own collections. A must-see so pop it in your diary now.
As part of the program of events around this Exhibition, the Ashmolean and the Embroiderer's Guild will be holding "The Big Stitch" on 1st December. Members of the Guild will be demonstrating various embroidery techniques at locations around the Museum and myself and some friends will be demonstrating Japanese embroidery in the Eastern Art Gallery. Visitors to the museum are encouraged to bring some stitching along and join in The Big Stitch.
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